Loving God is about a lot more than having the right answer to one specific question (such as, “do you love God?”). It is about the posture of our hearts, the course of our thinking, and the evidence of our action.
Love ought to be a thing that permeates all we say and do. Who we love determines everything about us. It determines how we will love other things. And it will help inform how we perceive ourselves, others, and the world around us.
The Bible tells us to love as God loves. To follow His example. To care for others. To see their benefit as equivalent to ours. To ensure what we say aligns with how we act. Scripture is a call to wisdom and truth. A call to love. A call to action.
We cannot proclaim love for God while being devoid of evidence for it. It is an untruth, inaccurate.
The great news of the gospel, the thing that sets Christianity apart from any other religion, is that God became flesh. In human form, the divine ruler of all things humbled Himself and came down to the earth in order to show us how to love. How to think. How to feel. What to believe. The life of Jesus shows us how to live, what it really means to be alive.
Let’s turn to Jesus, see the example, take it to heart, and repeat it for all the world to see.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
– 1 John 3: 16-18