RESTORE ONCE MORE LOVING GOD WITH A WHOLE HEART
How do we please God? In the previous two articles we looked at two duties of man necessary in order to please our God and be blessed in our walk with Him. Understanding the importance of fearing the Lord is the beginning of gaining wisdom for life. (Proverbs 9:4) The second directive is dedicating ourselves to walking in God’s ways so as to ensure entrance into eternal life with our Father in heaven.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 reveals yet another aspect of pleasing God – LOVING Him with all our hearts. How then do we accomplish this in real life? To answer this question we can look to Scripture to help us. Covenant love with God and others is more a matter of will and decision than it is about how we feel. Faithfulness to those attitudes and actions revealed in Scripture is a key to success.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 outlines how to love God evidenced by how we love others. In fact, scripture says that if we do not know how to love, “we are nothing!” (vs. 2) How do we love? We are to be long-suffering, kind, not envious, not proud and needing to be the center of attention. Love is not rude, isn’t self-seeking, is not easily provoked and does not gossip. Love is not happy to see others fall. Love acts truthfully and bears up, believes, hopes, and endures to the end! Scripture says in 1 John 4:20 a truth concerning loving God. He who loves God, must love his brother! This week, let’s pursue love!