Do You Love God?

Saturday January 17, 2015

Do you love God? Just think about it. How can a lowly person draw near, much less talk about being in a personal relationship with such a high and exalted Being? It blows my mind. A classic hymn describes God as "Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes." Perhaps God´s "otherness" explains why we often feel inadequate in claiming that we love Him.

Yet God loves us and desires that we love Him in return! In 1 John 4:20 - 5:5, He tells us how we can know if we truly love Him.

Firstly, to claim that we love God isn´t a true demonstration of love. There should be visible actions. Specifically, we´re called to love fellow believers in Him. Love for the unseen God will find expression in love for others whom we can see (4:20), for "everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too" (5:1).

Secondly, we´ll strive to keep God´s commandments without finding them burdensome (5:3). John Piper helps us understand this verse in context. He explains, "The test of the genuineness of your love to the children of God is whether you let the commandments of God govern your relation to them and whether these commandments are burdensome to you."

But these tests help us see that loving God and loving people are closely interconnected. If we love Him, we´ll love His people. And the way we loves His people will be in conformity with the way He reveals His love to us.

"Do you love me?" Jesus asked Peter by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:15-17). Jesus' question wasn´t designed to criticize Peter, but to restore him to service. These are encouraging words, for if we´ve faltered like Peter, God still loves us and invites us to love Him as we love His people. - Poh Fang Chia

Read
1 John 4:20 - 5:5
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command : Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God : by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God : to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him

Question to Ponder
What do your actions towards fellow believers reveal about your love for God?
What will it take for you to love them better? To love God better?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Dec 2014 - Feb 2015