How Do We Truly Love God?

How Do We Truly Love God?

1 John 2:4-5; “He who says, ‘I know him and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keeps his word, the love of God is perfected in him.” We have to take out time to self reflect and ask ourselves, if we say we love God, do we care to keep his commandments? What is the most important thing to us in this world? How is our personal relationship with God? Are we putting that first? Or do we consider other aspects of our lives more important thereby coming before God? Man was created to be in a relationship with God. Some may say that they don’t need God and are doing just fine without him. It does not matter our degrees, how smart we are, our life experiences, our resources, or how successful we are. Success does not replace the need for God in our lives. If our accomplishments or success stories causes us to forget God as if he does not exist, God in his infinite mercy and love for us will quickly remind us how much we need him and how finite our accomplishments and resources are.

Remember the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:13-15;

“He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” This parable shows us the frailty of life and should be remembered When our identity is tied up with our status, degrees, achievements, and possessions. James 4:14 says, “why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” These verses shows us that it is unprofitable to fill our souls with the insatiable desire for earthly possessions with total disregard for God. God wants us to be successful, He wants us to be driven and strive for the good things in life, all He asks is that we don’t forget Him. He should come first in our lives. He will put everything else in place. Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”

Jesus also provided the solution/answer to how to truly love God. 1 John 5:3 says, “this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Meaning that the evidence of a love for God is the desire or the striving to keep his word. We could start by putting our personal relationship with God first in our lives.