How Do You Love God?

Have you ever really thought about this question? I suspect, that as Christians, we spend a lot more time thinking about God's love for us, than we do about how we actually love Him? Perhaps during worship at church or elsewhere, we praise Him and offer our love to Him through our words and singing and so forth, but day to day, hour by hour, how do we express our love to the One who created us, beyond just telling Him?

 Jesus makes it very clear that we are to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37) He tells us in the very next verse that this is the first and greatest commandment, so it's a big deal! But how do we do that? What does that really look like? Fortunately, Jesus makes it similarly clear in the 14th chapter of John, in several different ways that, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching." (John 14:23)

 So then, it appears that to love God is to obey God. In essence then, that whole idea of actions speak louder than words comes into play. We can tell God that we love Him all we want... we can sing praises to Him for hours if we want, and that's all good! But, if we want to really show that we love Him, then we will obey His commands. We will do what He tells us to do. Whether it's one of those "Big 10" on the tablets that Moses delivered to His people or it is the subtle prompting to pray for a stranger in a grocery store. If we truly love God, we will do it. And part of the good news in this is that if we do these things, Jesus tells us that we will be "blessed" (Luke 11:28).

 Living the unfiltered life then is not just doing what God wants us to do, not just obedience for obedience's sake, if you will. Rather, it's a way, actually THE way, for us to show Him that we love Him. By obeying in the big things and the little things, by hearing His words and acting on them, we speak loudly to our Father in Heaven, "I Love You!"


Location: Milton, GA, USA

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