Loving God is a Command
The Bible commands us to love God. We can see this in John 12:30 – “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” This is a necessity – a command, not a suggestion. Also, the bar is set very high in this command – with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
Upon this command rests many of the promises of God, which are tied to loving him. For example, see Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Notice that the condition here is that the promise is only for those that love God, and are called according to His purpose. The promise of Heaven is for those who love the Lord, as we read in James 1:12 – “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” Another supporting verse is 2 Tim 4:8 – “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” Thus, the promises and blessings of God are conditional on us obeying this command.
The opposite is also true. We see this in 1 Cor 16:22 – “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!”
Thus, we see that loving God is a command, a necessity, and a pre-condition for the various promises of God.
Not a forced love
At first brush, this may appear to be a strange command. A command to love!
However, upon further inspection, we see that this is not a forced love. Instead, it is a love full of affection. We read in Matthew 10:37 – “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.” Our love for our parents is surely not a forced love, it’s a natural love that the youngest of babies have, that springs forth without any compulsion. Similarly, a parent’s love for their child overflows so unreservedly, it is not something that a parent must be commanded to comply with. The Bible uses this illustration, and demands more – for our love for God to be even more than this love of a child for his or her parents, and more than parental love. Surely this cannot be a compelled, forced love, absent of any emotion!
In another text, we see more evidence of the strong emotions behind this love – we read in Psalm 18:1-3 – “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” This is an emotional outpouring of love, not something forced.
This love generates a desire for God, and lessens the desire for the world, and makes our burdens light. We read in 1 John 5:3 – “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” For us to find His commandments not grievous, we must truly love God. A love that is forced, and merely born out of duty, does not change our nature. But love that is an emotional response to God’s surpassing value, will help us to recognise that God is beyond all that the world offers.
In fact, our attitude should be as Paul, in Philippians 3:6-8 – “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” Notice that Paul considered his previous righteousness and blamelessness as dung, because he did not have Christ, and his heart was not in the right place. He lived with a forced obedience to the law, and he said that without Christ, it was counted as dung.
So we see that this is not a forced love, but a love full of emotions, affection, and a love that changes our nature, that we desire God more and desire the world less.
Drawing Near to God
God has set a high bar. But we are not alone, and even in loving Him, God offers help. We see in Deuteronomy 30:6 – “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” God works to bring our hearts to love Him. We see in another passage, Ezekiel 36:26-27 – “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Thus, our emotional response is also a gift from God.
How Might This Gift Work?
We may not know exactly. In some passages, we see that first, we are born again, as we read in 1 Peter 1:23 – “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” With this new birth, we would have tasted the goodness of God. From there, a desire for God is seeded, and we grow that desire. We read in 1 Peter 2:2-3 – “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” We would have seen Christ’s glory, and found His burdens light.
With this appreciation and desire for Christ, we desire to study more, and grow closer towards Him. Knowing God more, studying His word, and we draw even closer to Him. We see support in James 4:8 – “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” This studying then shapes our understanding of God, and helps us grow in our love for God. May we all aspire towards Philippians 3:8 – “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,”
To summarise, loving God is a command, yet it’s not a forced love, but an emotional love so strong that it changes our nature. This love itself is a gift from God, and as we study more, we draw nearer to Him.