So you say you Love God! #2
Here's what Loving God Really means
by Keith Hunt We have seen in part one of this study, that LOVING God is MUCH more than mere emotional sentiments of the heart and mind. People can get emotionally fired up over baseball, football, hockey, and soccer, or any other various loves and games, be it in sports, or theatre, or entertainment. There is nothing wrong per se in having some "emotion" over something that is good and proper. There is nothing wrong with having some emotion with God and His "true religion" of His very INSPIRED WORD. But, as we have seen, God wants MORE from us than just emotions of the heart. Loving Him must go down deep into our very being which is then manifested in our THOUGHTS, WORDS, and DEEDS of action and PRACTICES of our life. GOD GIVES US LOVE TO LOVE HIM! Not only does the Eternal God tell us HOW to LOVE Him, but He even gives us His very NATURE and POWER (2 Peter 1: 2-4) to help us love Him in the way He wants us to love Him. We receive the nature and power to love God in the way of love that He desires, from the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit within us: ".....because the LOVE OF GOD is SHED ABROAD in our hearts by the HOLY SPIRIT which is GIVEN to us" (Rom. 5:5). Yet, we also are told that the Holy Spirit is given ONLY to those who OBEY God (Acts 5:32). So whichever way you want to slice the cake, loving God contains as we have seen, living by EVERY WORD of God, serving the Lord, living His WAY (Acts 18: 9, 23), obeying His COMMANDMENTS. Part, a very IMPORTANT part, of obeying God is to REPENT (see Acts 17: 30 and Luke 13: 1-5, with Acts 2: 38; 5:19). This requires the basic knowledge of what to repent of, what sin is, and the way of life the Eternal wants you to learn and to live. All of this is covered fully on this Website in other in-depth studies. Now, let's read and very importantly, let's BELIEVE, more truth of the matter words from the inspired New Covenant document we call by the popular name "The New Testament." HOW TO LOVE GOD EXPLAINED WITH MORE CLEAR VERSES All the following quotes are from the Amplified Bible translation. "Let your love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil (loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness), but hold fast to that which is good. Love one another with brotherly affection (as members of one family), giving precedence and showing honor to one another. Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord" (Rom. 12: 9-11). "Love does no wrong to one's neighbor (it never hurts anyone). Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law" (Rom. 13: 10). "But if one loves God truly (with affectionate reverence, prompt obedience, and grateful recognition of His blessing), he is known by God (recognized as worthy of His intimacy and love, and he is owned by Him" (1 Cor. 8: 3). "For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that if One died for us, then all died" (2 Cor. 5: 14). "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love" (Gal. 5: 6). "For you, brethren, were indeed called to freedom; only do not let your freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse for selfishness, but through love you should serve one another. For the WHOLE Law concerning human relationships is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as you do yourself - Lev.19: 18. But if you bite and devour one another in partisan strife, be careful that you and your whole fellowship are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit, responsible to and controlled and guided by the Spirit; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh, of human nature without God" (Gal. 5: 13-16). "Living as becomes you, with complete lowliness of mine, humility and meekness, unselfishness, gentleness, mildness, with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another" (Eph. 4: 2). "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph. 5: 25). "Husbands love your wives and be affectionate and sympathetic with them, and do not be harsh or bitter or resentful towards them" (Col. 3: 19). "The coming of the lawless one, the antichrist, is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of pretending miracles and signs and delusive marvels, all of them lying wonders. And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, going to perdition, because they did NOT WELCOME the TRUTH, but refused to LOVE it, that they might be saved" (2 Thes. 2: 9-10). "But if anyone has this world's goods, resources for sustaining life, and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him" (1 John 3: 17). "Little children let us not love merely in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth, in practice and in sincerity" (1 John 3: 18). "And we know, understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience, and believe, adhere to and put faith in and rely on, the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love, dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him. In this union and communion with Him, love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, with assurance, and boldness to face Him, because as He is, so are we in this world.....We love Him, because He fist loved us. If anyone says, I love God, and hates, detests, abominates, his brother in Christ, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this command, charge, order, injunction, we have from Him; that he who loves God shall love his brother, believer, also" (1 John 4: 16-21). "For the true love of God is this: that we do His COMMANDS, keep His ordinances and are mindful of His precepts and teaching. And these orders of His are NOT irksome, burdensome, oppressive, or grievous" (1 John 5: 3). "And what this love consists in is this: that we LIVE and WALK in accordance with and guided by His COMMANDMENTS, His orders, ordinances, precepts, teachings. This is the commandment, as you have heard from the BEGINNING, that you continue to walk in love, guided by it and following it" (2 John 6). THERE IT IS FOLKS, from the NEW Covenant, in pretty plain and clear words, which need no theological degree from some "Theological School" of organized mankind. Why, even a CHILD can understand them. I was sent to a "church school" (Church of England school) by my parents from age 6 years, and for many years after that age, I read and re-read such plain to understand words from ALL OVER the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I had no trouble understanding them, and I did indeed BELIEVE them. To LOVE God is to believe and obey, all those simple passages we have read from BOTH the Old and the New Covenants. All the debate, the fuss, the theological controversy, disputes, wrangling, over the Old and New Covenants is for the bottom line, not needed. The BOTTOM LINE, of it all, the conclusion of the WHOLE MATTER (as Solomon said, see Ecc. 12: 13) is not hard to figure (if your heart is humble and desires to really see it, to really love the truth of the matter) - you LOVE God by serving and obeying His COMMANDMENTS, His WILL, His WAY, His PRECEPTS, STATUES, His ORDERS. The bottom line is doing exactly as Jesus told us to do....."Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that proceeds out of the mouth of God." And ALL of the Eternal Father's WORD is broken down or nut-shelled, into TWO OVERALL COMMANDMENTS.....You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your life, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Yes, truly on these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets. TRULY LOVING GOD IS TO LOVE HIS COMMANDMENTS, ALL 10 OF THEM WHICH INCLUDES THE 4TH ONE AS FOUND IN EXODUS 20.
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