How much do you love God?

Pastor Pat Duffin

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your love for God? “How much do you love God?” That’s a huge question! And, “Is it enough?” This deserves some serious thought before attempting to give an answer. The Bible provides considerable instruction on the matter of loving God. One of the most challenging passages is in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, Verses 25-28. It tells the story of a question directed toward Jesus and dealing with exactly this issue of loving God. One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, love your neighbour as yourself.” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” Careful reading of this passage reveals four ways we are to love God. First, we are to love God with all our ‘hearts’. The heart is the seat of our emotions. It is the place from which feelings originate, and thus love, affection, awe, respect, reverence and so forth. Anyone whose emotions are not engaged in their worship of God have a cold, intellectual assent rather than a warm, embracing relationship with God. God forbid that we should read scripture, pray, or attend worship in some mechanical, unemotional, uninvolved way, for this is not ‘love’. Second, we are to love God with all our ‘soul’, that is with our innermost, spiritual self. This is the portion of our being that connects our physical and mental self to the spirit realm. It is not our eternal spirit (pneuma) but is the same root word from which we derive ‘psyche’. It is at the very core of that which makes us unique individuals unto ourselves and which distinguishes us from everyone else. Thus we are to love God with our very essence of who we are. Third, we are to love God with all our ‘mind’. This is our rational self or the intellect. Our minds have incredible power to think, to reason, to acquire knowledge, to assemble, to correlate, to analyze, to interpret, to remember and to make decisions and to act. It is our minds that make us self-aware of who we are and aware of others, including God. We stuff our minds with phenomenal amounts of information and hold knowledge in high esteem. Domestic, historical, literary, scientific, business, sports and entertainment are but a few of the varied fields of interest and pursuit. But, how does all this knowledge stack up to our knowledge of who God is, how He works, and what He is all about? For most believers, let alone unbelievers, this knowledge is extremely limited. Yet, where are they on Sunday mornings? Sunday evenings? Mid-week gatherings? Why are their Bibles collecting dust? Why do they fill their minds with music, stories and ideas of this world rather than music, stories and ideas of God? They are not loving God with their whole minds. To love God in that way one must do two things: 1. Fill your mind with the things of God – and that doesn’t happen in two hours on a Sunday morning. 2. Meditate on what you know about God (see 1 Corinthians. 2:2; Philippians 4:8). Fourth, we are to love God with all our ‘strength.’ This is our physical self, including our possessions, as well as our physical abilities. If we truly love God we will serve Him with our bodies through obedience and the giving of time, talents, and material assets to fulfill His will for us and others. When God gives us abilities, He wants us to use them for His purposes. Many times, there are needs in the church that never get met because those with the ability to do them do not step up and take responsibility for them. The letter to the Galatians tells us that we are called to freedom, but we are not to use that freedom to indulge ourselves. Rather we are to use that freedom to love and serve the needs of those around us and by doing so we fulfill all the Law of God (Galatians. 5:13-18). Therefore, loving God involves our entire being. As human beings we tend to compartmentalize our lives. We have our work life, our home life, our play life, our church life and sometimes even a secret life. Many believers err by trying to compartmentalize their love for God. They emphasize truth, but avoid emotions and experiential faith. Others emphasize emotions and experience, but de-emphasize truth. But, according to God’s Word, our love for Him is to be an everyday, all the time, all encompassing love that permeates every aspect of our being and doing. Perfunctory rituals, insincere words, and mechanical participation in worship are worthless. Unless we love and worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we are not really loving God at all.