How Does One Love God?
written at Monday, July 27, 2009
I fall into this ditch at times, where I kind of wonder, "How could God love a wretch, a sinful wretch like me. Struggling all the time, seemingly stuck in circles. Loving God, how can I possibly do so when I'm falling in and and tripping over bumps on the road all the time?" How does one love God? I'm sure we've heard it and read it, to love our God and to love others. It is mentioned in the Bible on many instances. But when the going gets tough or when the tough really really gets going straight for us at a trillion miles an hour. When affliction comes, when we go through hardships, when things seem to not get any worse, when we feel like hour brain is in the gutter after something had happened, we tend to say, "How, how, how, does one love God..."
How does one love God?
Well, John says, "We love because He first loved us."
And if that's true, then my
whole approach must change.
No longer should I condemn myself in the mirror,
saying, "come on Elliot, get your act together."
No. Instead I simply incline my gaze to the cross.
If I'm not loving God, it's because I'm not believing I'm loved.
And how do I know that I am loved?
"This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life..."
He laid down His life for me, He laid down His life for you.
How Does One Love God?
written at Monday, July 27, 2009
I fall into this ditch at times, where I kind of wonder, "How could God love a wretch, a sinful wretch like me. Struggling all the time, seemingly stuck in circles. Loving God, how can I possibly do so when I'm falling in and and tripping over bumps on the road all the time?" How does one love God? I'm sure we've heard it and read it, to love our God and to love others. It is mentioned in the Bible on many instances. But when the going gets tough or when the tough really really gets going straight for us at a trillion miles an hour. When affliction comes, when we go through hardships, when things seem to not get any worse, when we feel like hour brain is in the gutter after something had happened, we tend to say, "How, how, how, does one love God..."
How does one love God?
Well, John says, "We love because He first loved us."
And if that's true, then my
whole approach must change.
No longer should I condemn myself in the mirror,
saying, "come on Elliot, get your act together."
No. Instead I simply incline my gaze to the cross.
If I'm not loving God, it's because I'm not believing I'm loved.
And how do I know that I am loved?
"This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life..."
He laid down His life for me, He laid down His life for you.
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Knowing
What matters supremely, therefore, is not
in the last analysis, the fact that I know God,
but the larger fact which underlies it --
the fact that He knows me.
J. I. Packer
