Foundations: Love God

Do you know that we like to overcomplicate our faith? It’s true. It’s in our nature. Think about it, since the Fall we have added our own preferences and stipulations to God, even to the point that the “god” we claim to worship looks less like the “God of the Bible” and more like “yourself.”

I know, that was harsh and bold way to begin this post. But it is the truth. It is at the essence of what Paul said in Romans 1:21-23:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

The scary thing is, many are so good at this that they look so close to the truth, but are far away from it.

“having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power…who creep in…always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth…corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.” (2 Timothy 3:5-8)

BUT God is loving and He remembers our frailness (Psalm 103 is a powerful testimony to this!). He has SPOKEN to us that we might KNOW Him for who He really is! This is why it is so important that His Word becomes our final authority for faith and practice.

So what are we to do?

1.     Recognize that you are wrong

I often remind myself of this truth, “Brad you are wrong.” This is a helpful phrase for me, but make sure if you use it, you replace my name with your own haha.  I have to realize that I like to place my own preferences and desires unto my view of God. I might want to make Him be like a genie in the bottle. When I do this, I have problems with Him when I don’t get what I want.

Sometimes God can seem too far away and I don’t feel like He hears my prayers. Other times I don’t think He is powerful enough to overcome life’s difficulties. Most often, I He becomes too small in my mind, so He can fit into the nice little box I’ve made with the label “my god”.

Without realizing it, I have just stripped away God’s attributes from Him. I’ve made Him to be something of my own creation, who is inferior to my own views. Worse yet, I make him to be a god that loves what I loves, prefers what I prefer, hates what I hate, and so on. When this happens, if I want to see “my god” I should just look into the mirror! Ouch!

Instead, I need to stop looking into the mirror to figure out God and look into the Bible! Spending time in Genesis 1-2, Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1; Ephesians 1; Revelation 1, 22; and so many more, that help remind us that God cannot fit into our boxes. That God is not us and we are not God! He is who He says He is, He has done what He promised to do; and He will do what he promises to do still!

2.     Know you are loved

You are loved! Yes, you! You are loved far more than you could even imagine! It’s true. Say it out loud right now, “I am loved by God Almighty!” Did you really say it? It’s true.

“But I don’t deserve God’s love” you might be thinking. And you are right, you don’t deserve it. But that doesn’t change the fact that God has declared His love for you! Listen to the apostle John:

“…God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8-10)

Imagine this for a second, you have just committed the worst crime you can imagine and were caught. Your face has been posted all over the news, the internet and social media. Because of your shameful act, you are despised by all. You have been given a death sentence and there is nothing you can do to persuade the judge otherwise. Now it’s just a matter of time before your judgement is carried out.

Yet God said, I love that criminal! What can I do to demonstrate to him how much he is loved despite the vile things he has done? I will send my Son to take his place.

Jesus enters the courtroom and asks the judge, “have I committed any crimes?” “No” declares the judge. “Have I ever broken the law,” He asked again. “No” the judge said. “Then before the Law I stand perfect and innocent?” “That is correct!” said the judge.

Jesus then approached and said, “I’d like to pay for this man’s crimes and take his punishment.” “But why would you do that?” “Because I love him and want him to know it.”

The judge accepted the substitution. Jesus was executed and the man was set free. The payment was made, the penalty was satisfied, the man’s debt was cleared. Three days later, Jesus rose again from the dead!

This parable is true, it is what Jesus had done for me and for you. All who receive Him, who believe in Him, are welcomed into the family of God (John 1:12). When you know and understand this precious love of God, how could you now love Him all the more.

3.     Realize that Love is more than a feeling

It is really important to know that love isn’t what the TV and movies depict. Our culture is all about romanticizing lustful escapades and not depicting true love. Sure, sometimes you will have an emotional reaction in a worship service, or while reading the Bible, and those are good. But that isn’t the definition of love.

Love is a choice. Joshua challenged the people of Israel to, “choose today whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:14-15). When you understand that love is more than a feeling, but also a decision of the will, you will have a love that can endure the hard times when the feelings fade.

Love is a state of being. It is being present and aware of the object of your affection. God commands us to, “be still and know that I am God.” It is the command to learn to be aware of His presence, to learn to enjoy Him and hear Him. It’s learning to be “all there” when it comes to worshiping God.

Love is an action. Jesus said in John 14, that “if you love me you will obey my commandments.” This is not a guilt trip phrase, but a promise. If I were to put it in my own words, “when you love me, your love for me will overflow from your heart and obedience will just happen.”

When you realize that the first and greatest commandment we have been given is to “love God with all of our heart, mind and strength,” because from this commandment flows all the others, we see why it is so important that we choose to love God first, that we enjoy His presence, which will lead to us obeying Him.

4.     LOVE God

So how do I love God? Let’s talk about two ways to love God.

a.     Choose God first, every time.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

This means that whatever you are doing, you should be doing it for the glory of God. If I can’t glorify God with what I am doing, then I need to stop. Loving God means I am aware of His presence and I am asking myself, “is what I am about to do, say, think, putting God first or myself first?”

b.     Spend time with God, every day.

It’s been said, “if you want to hear God speak to you, read the Bible out loud!” God has spoken and He has preserved His Word in the Bible. If we want to spend time with Him, we have to develop a pattern of meeting with Him by reading His Word.

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…If you abide in me, and my words abide in you...” (John 15:5,7)

Jesus wants us to “abide” with Him. That means to “remain in Him.” The way I understand this text, Jesus is saying, “I want you to become best friends with me.” It’s the word to set up camp with. Who do you go camping with? Those who are closest to you, right?

What happens when you develop a close friendship with someone? You begin to talk alike, act alike, dress alike and even think alike. That should be our goal with Jesus. The more time we spend with Him, the more we seek to love Him, the more we will be like Him.

We are going to seek to do this more this year. As a youth group we are going to use the Word of Life Quiet Time diaries and work to keep each other accountable to spend time with Jesus. When we do, we will find this to be a fruitful year!