Matthew 22:36-39 ““Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself.”“

In my previous post I mentioned three, let’s call them goals for living a life worthy of our calling as Christ followers. They are: Love God, Love people and Give God your best. As we read in Matthew two of these (love God and love people)Jesus Himself mentions are the greatest commandments.  So it seems only right that we spend a little more time digging in and discovering all that God wants us to learn. 

Today let’s take a closer look at loving God. What does it mean, and how do we as normal women and men love God? Love is one of the words that gets thrown around pretty freely, giving it several layers of meaning. Some people may even say “I love, love”. I love coffee. Which means I drink it quite a bit, I’m willing to spend money on it and will even drive out of my way to hit one of my favorite coffee shops from time to time. Meeting a friend for coffee is a routine part of my life and one of my favorite things. Additionally it’s a love that my youngest daughter shares, so we get to spend time enjoying this treat together. It’s a basic love but one that I could do without. A a deeper layer of love might be-loving your job, or loving the Chiefs, but again these are not have to haves. As we go deeper into these layers of love, they do become loves that we can’t do without, like loving our families and friends. But at the deepest layer, should be our love for God. It is different from any other love we as humans experience or feel. In fact I believe it goes much deeper than a feeling. It is a soul deep knowledge that doesn’t make sense from a worldly standpoint, but one that we cannot deny and desperately need. Jesus modeled love when He willing gave His life for ours.

“I love God”. We say these words, even sing them at church, but what does loving God actually mean? At its most basic level loving God means that you acknowledge His existence. You believe that He is the Creator of everything and that He knows you and loves you. In fact if it weren’t for God loving us, we would have no concept of what true love actually means. God has continued to impress on me these last few weeks, loving God is so much more than spending 30 minutes a day reading or studying His word, more than praying through our needs for the day and confessing our sins. It must become a soul deep AWE that can only be found in Him. It means letting go of everything I want and hope for and taking His hand and following where He leads, because I KNOW His plan is better. Loving God means holding nothing and no one back from Him, closing my eyes and jumping, KNOWING He will catch me! I am convinced that in order for us to fall in love with our Savior we have to find our AWE of God. Spend a few minutes thinking about these truths: 

• There has never been a time when God hasn’t been. Consider Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God…” Not even one second of one day has passed when God was not seated on His throne and in complete control.
• God is Holy and Sovereign. 1 Tim. 6:15 “God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords,”
• God loved you before you were even born. Psalms 139:13 “For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.“
• God gave up everything for you. John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
• God is for you – Romans 8:31-32 “What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?  He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?”
• There is nothing that can separate us from God’s love or His protection. Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
• Wherever you are right now, whatever you are doing, even if you are running from Him- God loves you.

When you take the time to think deeply about these few reasons for loving God, the question really becomes how can you not love Him?! How can we not bow in AWE?! 

The second question; how can I love God begins with simply accepting Him for who He is and what He has done for you. Open your hands, heart and soul and accept the free gift of salvation and forgiveness He offers you. It’s not complicated or complex. All it requires of you is saying “yes Jesus I believe in You and accept you as my personal Savior”. We can’t just make loving God part of our day, instead it must be part of who we are, as natural to us as loving our spouse and children. 

Here are just a few practical ideas: 

• Sit and soak in His word. Don’t rush through scripture assuming you know what it says. Hebrews: 4:12 “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” When the voice in your head tells you to get up and go-wait five more minutes to be sure He is done talking.
• Slow down, shut up and listen. Take time to breathe deeply and just be with God. Matt 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” and Psalms 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”
• Trust God to give you what you need for today. He already knows! Matthew 6:11 “Give us today our daily bread”
• Give God as much if not more time and attention you give things like social media, the news, TV, etc.. Exodus 20:5 “Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,”
• Find your “AWE”-Revelation 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.”

Lastly we must remember to take God with us wherever we go. You might be thinking “well, duh. The Holy Spirit lives inside me, of course He goes where I go.” But I believe there are others of you, who like me finish our quiet time for the day, put our supplies neatly back on the table and then go about our day quickly forgetting we have His power living inside of us. Truly loving God means keeping our hearts and minds focused and attentive to Him all day long, everyday. This is a lifelong journey, one that takes time, energy and humility. Which is why we need to remember to tap into that power living inside of us! God loves us so much, he knew we would need help. Help, He gladly gives us!