Loving Our Lord First
Written by Shawntae W.

 

 

It was such a blessing to do this study on God's love. I did the study this summer, but did I ever need a reminder. What a wonderful thought to know that God loves me!! How He deserves my love for Him even though it is very small. As I wrote this article, an inward battle was taking place as the question "How much are you willing to give to show how much you love Me?" kept playing across my mind. When I think of God's love for me, it is easy to give all, but when I think of my desires, it is harder to give all. The Christian life is a battle, but I am so glad that Jesus already has the victory.

I John 4:8b-10 says, “. . for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God is love and if we are to know how to love God, we must know God deeply. How do you learn to love someone? It is only by getting to know that person. It is hard to love a stranger. Therefore, if we are to love God, we must spend precious time getting to know Him.

The best place to start getting to know God and understanding His love is through the manifestation of God’s love. Do you want to see God’s love for you? Look at the cross. John 3:16 says that “God so loved. . .that He gave.” With this in mind, we see that love gives. Love is not selfish or even prideful. It gives no matter the cost, and it always gives for the sake of the other’s good. God’s love is the example we should follow in loving Him for it is perfect love.

God gave his best for us even when we totally despised His Gift of love (Romans 5:8; Isaiah 53:3). God gave His only precious Son for us. Think of the cruelty Christ suffered and the sins of the whole world that He bore on His shoulders. When I look at all God has done for me in just providing my salvation, I am overwhelmed with awe and love for my God. You cannot love God without experiencing His love first in your own life and then live in that love every moment. It is because of God’s love that you can even live. Oh, how much love we owe Him!

How can I supremely love God? In my own frail humanity, I cannot, nor can you, love God supremely. However, with His help, we can love Him supremely. It can start with my thoughts – the starting place of my attitudes. If I am in constant remembrance of God’s love as manifested on the cross and in every day activities, then I will want to thank Him for His love. An attitude of thankfulness is a way to show our love to God. This attitude of thankfulness, as all attitudes do, leads to actions of thankfulness. A few examples of acts of love to God are as follows: sharing the Gospel instead of keeping it to yourself, making time in your day to spend with God (we make time for those we love and think are important), loving others (the second great commandment (Matt. 22:37-40)), and glorifying God (which takes mindful effort in order to give of yourself to glorify God). Though we cannot do this all on our own, we must be trying little by little to increase in our love to God through our whole being.

Another way to show that we love God is to encourage each other through prayer. We need the prayers of each other to forsake loving this world and ourselves and to embrace loving God with our whole beings.

 

"You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving." ~ Amy Carmichael

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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