To Love Our Father Means….

How do we love God?

It seems like a simple question, doesn’t it? But the answer to this question is paramount. If we don’t know how to love God, what good is it to say that we do?

Is loving God about intellectually asserting that you have warm fuzzy feelings for Him? What about believing He exists?

Love is a verb as much as it is a noun. Having affection for the Creator God is amazing, and He expects that of us.

But the continuous process of showing Him our devotion through our actions encapsulates the entire spectrum of love for Him.

If you love your spouse, you have a set of expectations put forth that shows that love.

If you have an awful wife or husband, that doesn’t translate well to a loving relationship. Love is something you proactively take part in.

Being proactive about relationships keeps them alive, doesn’t it?

The Bible answers the question of how we are to love God.

Quite simply, too.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3 [ESV]).

Think about it logically for a second.

Is it hard to take a day off? The Sabbath was made for us.

Is being kind difficult? Yes, in some respects.

But it can be done. It isn’t like trying to make a triangular square, which is impossible.

Loving God means keeping His commandments. If we don’t keep them, we will not love Him.

It’s funny how people will easily follow their boss’s instructions but think avoiding sin is too hard.

Loving God is about loving others, and loving others brings it back full circle to loving God, because the commandments are there to help us do this. Love for God, and for neighbor, and you’ve fulfilled the Torah.

That’s why I find it difficult to follow ministries that teach taking a day off is difficult (barring doctors, military, and EMT work situations).

Avoiding pork is also easy. If you like bacon, have you tried beef, lamb, or turkey bacon?

Jesus did not die on the cross so we could eat ham at Christmas dinner.

The book of Isaiah shows Him judging people who eat swine in the end times. If He doesn’t mind us eating unclean creatures—creatures He never designed us to eat in the first place—why does He do that?

I always get crickets when I ask questions like these.

Loving God is about doing what He commanded us to do, with the caveat that we must have the right spirit about it.

Legalism is not the Torah. But ignorance is also not the Torah.

Just a quick thought on loving God the way He wants to be loved.

Shalom.