#66 THREE WAYS GOD WANTS US TO LOVE HIM 9-1-26
God does not merely want us to say that we love Him. He wants our whole life to become an expression of that love. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). Our love for God should reach our head, our heart, and our hands. What we know about God should shape what we feel toward God, and what we feel toward God should determine what we do for God.
WE LOVE GOD WITH OUR HEAD
God wants us to love Him with our minds. Faith is not a rejection of thought. It is a surrender of our thoughts to the truth of God. We learn who God is through His Word, we think about His character, we meditate upon His promises, and we allow His truth to correct our thinking. Jesus said that knowing the truth brings freedom (John 8:31-32). Paul told the Romans to be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2).
What we think about God matters because wrong thoughts about God will eventually produce wrong attitudes toward God. When we understand His holiness, we will reverence Him. When we understand His grace, we will trust Him. When we understand His love, we will love Him in return. The more we know Him, the more reasons we discover to love Him.
WE LOVE GOD WITH OUR HEART
God does not want a cold, mechanical religion. He wants our affection. He wants our gratitude. He wants our devotion. The heart is where love becomes personal. We can know facts about God without loving God, but when truth reaches the heart, knowledge becomes worship.
“We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We do not love God merely because we are commanded to love Him. We love Him because He loved us first. He loved us when we were sinners. He gave His Son for us. Christ died for us, rose again, and opened the way for us to be reconciled to God. When we look at the cross and see the love of God displayed there, our hearts should respond with love, gratitude, and surrender.
WE LOVE GOD WITH OUR HANDS.
Real love eventually becomes visible. If we love God with our heads and our hearts, that love will find its way into our hands. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Love is not merely something we say. Love does something.
Our hands should serve what our hearts love. We feed the hungry. We help the hurting. We encourage the discouraged. We forgive those who have wronged us. We speak the truth. We share the gospel. We serve others in the name of Christ. We use what God has placed in our hands for His glory. James reminds us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Our works do not purchase God’s love, but they can demonstrate that His love has taken hold of us.
The head, heart, and hands belong together. The head knows Him. The heart loves Him. The hands serve Him. If we have knowledge without love, we become cold. If we have emotion without truth, we can become unstable. If we have activity without love, our service can become empty. But when truth fills the head, love fills the heart, and obedience fills the hands, our entire life becomes an offering to God.
Perhaps we should ask ourselves three simple questions: What am I learning about God? What am I feeling toward God? And what am I doing for God? God wants more than our thoughts. He wants our hearts. He wants more than our hearts. He wants our lives.
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Lord, teach us to love You with our heads by knowing Your truth, with our hearts by receiving Your love, and with our hands by serving You faithfully. May everything we think, everything we feel, and everything we do point others to Jesus Christ. Amen.
BDD
