Loving God

How do we love God? We love God by obeying him. The book of 2 John, verse 6, says “this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.” God knows how flaky our emotions are. He knows that one day we are happy, then next day we are sad, the next day we are angry, the next day we are… God does not want our emotional roller-coaster. God wants to see where the rubber meets the road. It is through our actions that we demonstrate our love for God. The Gospel of John puts it this way: “You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:14) In other words, Jesus is saying, “you show me love when you obey me.”

As a parent, I have come to understand this in a new way. I know how temperamental my three year old can be. One minute he hugs me and says “Daddy, I love you.” The next minute, he is stomping his foot and saying “Daddy, I don’t like you.” I know that in his heart he still loves me. I also know that I can’t trust his emotions. My three year old shows me love by sitting down during dinner, putting his clothes in the laundry, washing his hands. At times I have to remind him to do these things. As he matures, he does more and more on his own. These acts of obedience are demonstrations of his love for his father. It is the same for us with our heavenly Father. At times we hug, at times we stomp our feet. Sometimes God hears, “Daddy, I love you!” Other times, he gets a cold shoulder. Regardless of how we feel, we show God love by obeying his commands.