Loving God

I have heard much, over the years about loving God. It always sounds so simple, at least it sounds like it should be simple. Maybe we just don't think much about it and we make loving God simplistic, mere emotions and warm, fuzzy thoughts about how nice he is. But if loving God is so simple, why am I so bad at it? When I really think about what it means to love God, I realize I don't love him much... at least not nearly as much as I should. I realize that loving God is hard... it shouldn't be (he is GOD after-all), but it is. 

Loving God means loving the things that he loves. Loving God means loving what and who he has created. It means putting the things of God above, and before, the things of man. It means the things that I desire are secondary to the things that God desires - things that he desires for the world and the things that he desires for us… no, the things that we desire are less than secondary, they are insignificant by comparison. 

Loving God means seeking to know him, through prayer, meditation and reading scripture (that are his words to us). It means obeying and doing the things that he has told us to do, no matter what the cost to ourselves. It means sacrificing for his sake. It means making little of ourselves for the sake of making much of him. It means ridding ourselves of ourselves and longing to be with him, to know him, to draw close to him. 

Loving God is expressed in how we come to worship on Sunday mornings. It is expressed in how we worship in the days between Sunday's. It is expressed in how we go to sleep and how we wake. Loving God is expressed in how we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially, as well as our neighbors who are lost (and realizing that everyone is our neighbor). It is expressed in our contentment and it is expressed in our discontent. It is expressed in what we do with our time. It is expressed in what we do with our money. It is expressed in what we do with our family. It is expressed in what we do with our home and with our possessions. Actually, loving God means that we understand that we have no possessions. 

Loving God means accepting his discipline. It means accepting and obeying his truth, even when it is hard and when it is unpopular. It means accepting that we may not be accepted. Loving God means we are willing to look foolish for his sake. It means rejecting the wisdom of the world to do the crazy things of God, and then doing things even crazier. Loving God means our lives shouldn’t make sense to those who don’t know him and the lunacy of how we live encourages our brothers and sisters in Christ and makes them smile in a way others can’t

Loving God means he is constantly in our thoughts. Loving God means he is constantly influencing our actions. It means we are constantly trying to please him, through tasks great and tasks that seem small. Loving God means that we do what we do because it is pleasing to him and that is enough to satisfy the desires of our heart.