by Barbara Latta
Many Christians
strive over these questions:
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| How can I know if I love God enough? |
How do I know if I love God enough?
Am I doing enough to show God I love
Him?
What else do I need to do?
If I sin, does that mean I don’t love
God?
And if I do, is He angry with me?
Once when a
Pharisee asked Jesus which command in the law was the most important, Jesus replied,
Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, soul and mind. This is the first and most important command (Matthew
22:37 NCV).
It was a works
mentality. They had to perform correctly to show God they loved Him by obeying
His commands. If they didn’t do good, they were punished and an animal had to
be sacrificed to atone for that sin.
The law is only an unclear picture of
the good things coming in the future. It is not a perfect picture of the real
things. The people under the law offered the same sacrifices every year. These sacrifices
can never make perfect those who come near to worship God. If the law could
make them perfect, the sacrifices would have already stopped. The worshipers
would be made clean, and they would no longer feel guilty for their sins (Hebrews 10:1-2).
The law could
not make them perfect because no one had the ability to keep it. The animal
sacrifice was a temporary solution until the perfect sacrifice came.
For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth (Romans 10:4 KJV).
Christ death
and resurrection ended the works mentality to obtain righteousness. Now because
of His sacrifice a believer is made righteous by what Christ did, not by what we
do.
So how can we show God that we love Him? By believing what He said and receiving
what Christ did. That Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith; that ye being rooted and
grounded in love may be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).
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| We love Him because He first loved us. |
Am I doing enough to show God I love
Him? We can never do
enough. We just need to fellowship with Him. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared
not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He
saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit
(Titus 3:4-5).
What else do I
need to do? Nothing. Jesus did it all. Jesus plus works = self-righteousness;
Jesus plus nothing = righteousness. Herein perceive we the love of God because
he laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16).
If I sin, does that mean I don’t love
God? No,
it means he still shows us his mercy even when we do sin. So now those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty. I am not
judged guilty because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life
made me free. It made me free from the law that brings sin and death
(Romans 8:1-2 NCV).
If I do sin, is God angry with me? No, he wants to show us His mercy. But you O Lord are a God merciful and gracious
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness ( Psalm
86:15).
We can’t love
God without first being filled with the love He has for us. Receiving His love
gives us something to love Him back with. Then all the right things we need to
do will be an overflow of our relationship with Him, not works we are
performing to get Him to love us.
We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Have you
experienced the love of God in your life? Share your thoughts.
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