BiblicalInsights.net

     What does it mean to love God?  Love for God is a weighty matter!  Did you know that you can keep commands given by God without loving Him, but you cannot love God without keeping His commands?  Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  He addressed the hypocritical Pharisees by saying, “But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Luke 11:42).  The Pharisees did the “pass over” on important commands from God.  They majored in minors.  The real problem is that they loved themselves more than they loved God.  They elevated their views over God’s Word.  How do we show love for God?  There are five elements of  love for God that we want to consider.
     The first element is adoration for God.  If we truly love God, we will recognize His excellencies and His goodness.  We must know God before we can love God.  We must know His perfections including His glory, majesty, power, wisdom, love, mercy, wrath, justice and judgment.  We must recognize His goodness  revealed by His creative genius–producing design, beauty, functionality and sustenance and His redeeming love–producing salvation, joy, peace and the hope of eternal life.  Adoration is the esteem or value we place upon God when we understand who He is and what He has done for us.  That esteem is manifested in praise.
     The second element is attachment to God.  Love, by its very nature, attaches itself to the object of affection or devotion.  Love for God begins with an exclusive choice for God (Luke 16:13).  Luke declares that we cannnot serve two masters.  We will either hate the one and love the other; or we will hold to the one and despise the other.  We must choose.   A choice for God is a choice to enter into covenant relationship with God.  When we truly love God, God’s laws rule in our hearts.  To love God means that we deny self and live surrendered to Him.
     The third element is fidelity to God.  Fidelity means that we will keep covenant with God.  It means that we will be loyal and faithful to God.  Fidelity to God means that we will forsake all others (we will not serve any other gods).  Fidelity to God means putting God first and loving God exclusively.  We will worship Him only and serve Him only.  Love for God means that we make God the priority of our lives.
     The fourth element is gratitude to God.  Gratitude is the attitude of thankfulness that stems from a humble heart that recognizes that God is the ultimate source of all blessings. Love for God is prompted by God’s gracious acts that overwhelm the human heart.  The unspeakable gift of God’s Son if one example of God’s grace (John 3:16).  Love for God prompts gratitude as we recognize God’s goodness toward us on a daily basis.  God’s grace supplies us with many blessings that enrich our lives.
     The fifth element is consecration to God.  In Luke 10:27, we are taught to love God with “all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind…”  We must be wholly given to God (Rom. 12:1-2).  Love for God motivates to a life of holiness.  We conform to His will and are transformed by His Word.  Love for God produces the desire to be like God (Eph. 5:1).  We imitate what we admire. 
     Love for God is the ultimate beginning point in establishing relationship with God.  Remember, God went first. “We love him, because he first loved us.”  I John 4:19.