How Can We Really Love God as He Deserves to be Loved?

1 John 4:10 (AV)
¹⁰ Herein is love,
 not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
 and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Do you ever have a wait-a-minute moment when you read Matthew 22:37–38? ³⁷ Jesus replied, “ You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’* ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment.”  Do you ever feel the slightest bit guilty or embarrassed because you don’t feel like you know how to love the Lord with that level of intensity?  Relax, because without some help you can’t.

I John 4:10 tells us the only way we can truly love God in the manner in which He deserves. The Authorized Version says it this way; “Herein (this) is love…”  What follows then tells us the definition of love… “not that we loved God, but that He loved us.”  In other words, love is first and foremost about God loving you.  It is not first and foremost about you loving God.  Once you understand that, Matthew 22: 37-38 takes on a whole new dimension.  It is only when you get a revelation of God’s unfailing, never-ending love for you that you can truly love Him in the manner referred to in Matthew 22.  Your love then comes about as a response to what God has done for you, not something you are trying to do for Him.  The best way to love God is to focus on His Love for you.

Ephesians 3:17-20 confirms that it is His love for us, not our love for Him which changes us.  Ephesians 3:17–20 (New Spirit-Filled Life Bible) states “¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to *comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height ¹⁹ to *know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly *abundantly above all that we *ask or think, according to the power that *works in us,”

Follow the progression…

• Christ dwells in your heart through faith, (you make a decision to believe the Word and receive what It says )
• You then become rooted and grounded in that Love (your capacity to receive His Love is ever-increasing)
• The comprehension that comes from receiving His Love actually takes you beyond your natural understanding (knowledge) and you are being filled with God’s fullness (what’s God full of?… LOVE!)
• Once you are enjoying the fullness of His Love… the door is open to receive abundantly above all you ask or think  (I John 4:16 – once you know and BELIEVE {have revelation of} His Love, you are positioned to receive the wonderful blessings He has for you)

All of these things lead you to a place where loving God is a natural outflow from a heart of thanksgiving.  The Christian walk always starts and always ends with Love – the Love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Focus of that LOVE and Matthew 22:37-38 will become the most natural thing that you have ever done.

1 John 4:10 (The Living Bible)
¹⁰In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God
but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins.

Good news – you can’t do it, at least not without help. I John 4:19 reveals to usthe only way we can be obedient to Matthew 22:37-39; “we love Him, because He first loved us.” It is only when we get revelation of God’s unfailing, never-ending love for us that we can truly love Him back in the manner referred to in Matthew 22.  Our love then comes about as a respond to what God has done, not something we “do” trying to make something happen with effort.  The best way to love God is to focus on His Love toward us.

In the Old Testament the Law was given to reveal to the Israelites their need of God. No one could keep the Law ( the 10 Commandments and a total of over 600 other laws). The Law was not given to give people “hoops” to jump through to get to God, it was given according to Romans 3:20 to expose sin… “for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”   The Law as given to show people that without God’s help, they had no hope of ever getting to God on their own.  Fast forward to the New Testament and Jesus is telling the rich young ruler, who rather presumptuously told Jesus that he had kept the Law, that he needed to sell all he had and give it to the poor.  Religious tradition tells us that the moral of the story is that to “do” right you have to give away all that you have.  What Jesus was trying to point out was that under the Law you either fulfilled it 100% or you missed the mark totally. The purpose of pointing to the impossibility of keeping the Law was to show the rich young ruler that he needed a Savior.

The next time you read  ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’* ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment…” remember that without the help of the Holy Spirit our loving God will always fall short.  It took God loving us first, before we could ever love Him back.