In the past several days, I have received notes and have had conversations with people about deepening their love for God. This thrills my heart to no end. There is no greater goal than to love Him more.
But a love for God is not something to strive for with our greatest effort as we would another thing on our to do list. It is not something that we grasp for or run after, as some type of unattainable dream. It stems from knowing Him, spending time with Him, watching Him at work, listening to Him, reading about His life and His character and His words. I really believe that if we truly pursue, not loving, but first KNOWING Him, a love for Him cannot help but follow.
After all, look at these verses:
1 John 4:19
We love because He first loved us.
1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The only reason that we can love at all is because God loved us first. And because God is love, if we know God then we know love. And our love for Him stems from those two facts, not our attempts at loving Him more by trying harder, or by some sheer act of our will.
I look at how Jesus’ friends and disciples grew in their love for Him. They walked with Him. They watched Him at work. They asked Him questions. They listened to His teaching. They did life with Him. And as they got to know Him better and better, they realized who He was, their faith deepened and their love and devotion to Him came as a natural outflow of that.
Think about when we start a new relationship or friendship. Do we get to a place of intimacy with a person over night or as an act of will? Or is it the time spent in investing in that person, watching that person, sharing life and its ups and downs with that person, getting to KNOW that person and allowing yourself to be fully known? That’s how we fall in love. That’s how we form our best friendships. And that’s how we can experience a true love relationship with Jesus.
To KNOW Him is to LOVE Him….
Romans 5:5
And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love…
