Do I Really Love God?

Do I Really Love God? Or am I just fooling myself? This is a question that most people who claim to believe in God would answer with a Yes. Most people would understand that we don t stand a chance at making it into Heaven if we don t love God. Jesus says the love of God is the greatest commandment. Mt 22:36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 1

What does it mean to really love God? Is it just something we think or is it something we do? Jesus made very clear that we cannot love Him without demonstrating it thru our actions. Joh 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. If we love Him we will do what He has commanded us to do. If we are not doing what He has commanded then we don t love Him. Jesus goes on to make this point even plainer later on in this same chapter. Joh 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" 2

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. Our love of God or Christ cannot be separated from obedience to His commands. It is impossible to really love God and not make every attempt to obey Him. 1Jo 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 3

Vs 1 tells us if we love God the Father, then we will love God the Son. We can t love one without loving the other. This is one of the problems the Jews have today. They have rejected Christ and in doing so they have rejected the father. Vs 2 tells us the way to know if we love other Christians is if we love God and are obeying His commands. Even our love of other Christians is tied to our obedience to God s commands Finally vs 3 tells us that the Love of God is equal to or the same as keeping His commands. It also tells us that His commands are not burdensome If we love God, making the decision to obey Him should not be difficult. Most of us have probably heard daddy make the statement the only commands that are hard to obey are the ones we don t want to obey 4

Maybe one of the reasons we sometimes have difficulty obeying God is because we don t really love Him like we should. Maybe we don t love Him enough! If His commands are hard for us to obey then we need to ask ourselves what do I love the most, God or this sin? Do I Love God enough to get out of bed on Sunday morning and get to worship services on time? Do I love God enough to take a stand in front of my friends and family for what is right? It could cost us some of those friends or family members but who do I love the most? Mt 10:34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 "For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; 5

Mt 10:36 "and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' 37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Do we really love God enough to give all of these up in order to serve Him? Jesus knew this would be necessary in some circumstances and promised a reward for those willing to do so. Mr 10:29 So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, 6

30 "who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life. He promises us a reward of Brothers and Sisters in Christ in this life and of Heaven in the life to come One of the greatest examples in my opinion of someone who really loved God was Abraham. Abraham loved God so much that he was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice. Ge 22:1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 7

Ge 22:3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Abraham does not hesitate. He gets up early the next morning and sets out to obey God. For the sake of time lets skip down to vs 9 Ge 22:9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." 8

Ge 22:12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Abraham loved God so much that he was willing to give up his son that he loved. Isaac was not someone Abraham didn t know or care anything about. This was the only son he had with his wife Sarah. In spite of that, Abraham loved God more than he loved his son Isaac. This is why the promises were made to Abraham because he was the type man that would obey God! 9

Again we need to ask ourselves Do I really love God? Do I have a love for God like Abraham did? Do I love God above all else in this life. We can see the love of God in the life of Abraham by his obedience. Can others see our love for God in our lives by our obedience to His commands? 1Jo 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10

1Jo 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. Can others tell that we love God and are His children by the way we live our lives? If we are living a life of habitual sin then we cannot love God or be His child. Conclusion Do we have sin in our lives that we are having trouble getting rid of? Are we not putting the effort forth in being a Christian like we should? Then we may not have the love for God that we should. If that s the case then we need to consider what all God has done for us. 11

Conclusion Ro 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ didn t die for the righteous or the good but for us the wicked. Conclusion 1Jo 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. God has done so much for us, how could we not love Him. Keeping His commandments is such a small thing compared to what He has done for us! 12