How much do you love God? Scripture tells us, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment" (Mark 12:30). We could never do this in excess, because we could never love God too much. In our daily walk and devotion, we can love Him deeper. Our love for God can become richer, but our love could never be too excessive. However deep your love for God is, believe me, His love for you is greatly deeper. Your love for Him can’t come close to the intensity of affection and devotion our Father has for us.
The Bible says, "But if one loves God truly [with affectionate reverence, prompt obedience, and grateful recognition of His blessing], he is known by God [recognized as worthy of His intimacy and love, and he is owned by Him]" (1 Corinthians 8:3). Can you handle the truth? God loves us profoundly! Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ. He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. He predestined us for adoption, as His through Jesus, according to His will and purpose. This is a doctrine to rejoice in and to be enjoyed. He totally delights in us. His love for us is beyond human understanding.
I have the receipts! There are so many passages in the Bible that are devoted to loving God. God tells us the promises of loving Him and how He will bless those who love Him:
* "And if you will carefully obey all of his commandments that I am going to give you today, and if you will love the Lord your God with all your hearts and souls, and will worship him, then he will continue to send both the early and late rains that will produce wonderful crops of gain, grapes for your wine, and olive oil. He will give you lush pastureland for your cattle to graze in, and you yourselves shall have plenty to eat and be fully content" (Deuteronomy 11:13-15).
* "Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known my name" (Psalm 91:14).
* "Come and have mercy on me as is your way with those who love you" (Psalm 119:132).
* "The Lord is fair in everything he does, and full of kindness. He is close to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who reverence and trust him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. He protects all those who love him, but destroy the wicked" (Psalm 145:17-20).
* "The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him" (John 14:21).
* "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
* "That is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen, heard or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
* "Happy is the man who doesn’t give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised those who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong and never tempts anyone else to do it" (James 1:12).
These are just a few passages from the Bible. The Bible has many more passages devoted to those that loves God. But no matter how much we love God, He loves us so much more. We have no idea the magnitude of God's love for us. He loves us completely and unconditionally. "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:17a-19). We can't even comprehend how massive God's love is. His love cannot be fully explained, but I am thankful that I can experience it.
I am so thankful for God's love for me and I am also thankful that He knows all about me. "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in -- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain" (Psalm 139:1-6).
The fact is, God knows us intimately and deeply. He knows every little detail about our lives. We are never out of His sight. We are never out of His mind. There is no time or never will be a time, when His eye is off you. His attention can never be distracted from you. There is no greater love than this!
God knows what troubles us, and what trials we are going through. He knows every time you stump your toe and every tear you shed. He knows every one of your aches and pains. He knows when you lie down and when you are awake. He knows when you are depressed, lonely, and disappointed. When you shedded those tears, because of the lost of a loved one, He was there crying with you. He knows when you are irritated and He sees you when you are in despair. He knows exactly how you feel every second of each day. He knows every single strand of hair on your head.
How amazing is that! Do you know what else amazes me? How we don't have nothing to offer God and yet He loves us anyway. We bring absolutely nothing to the table. Yet He loved us way before we learned to love Him. God is love! We can always rely on the love God has for us. You know what else is amazing? There is absolutely nothing that can ever separate us from God's love. Paul says, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depths, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).
When you really love God, there will be some things that you will desire to do. You will desire to have a deep and personal relationship with Him. Those that loves God will desire to know Him intimately. To love God is to worship and praise Him. To love God is to desire Him. To love God is to put Him first in your life. To love God requires a will to obey Him. If you really desire a closeness with Jesus, He wants to give it to you. Jesus tells us that He will make Himself known in a special way to those that love Him.
"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:15-16).
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
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