I don't think I understand it, really, this thing called “love.”

I do, but at the same time, I don't.

Particularly the love that we are literally commanded to give toward God.

We are told this is the greatest commandment—to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

And all my life, it has seemed like just that—a commandment, a charge, a duty we are bound to pay.

Oh, yeah, I'm supposed to love God most of all.

Because people say that love is not a feeling, it's a choice. And in some ways, I agree with this.

I think you can love a person without liking them, if you choose to act rightly toward that person regardless of how you feel. If you put that person's needs before your own.

Isn't that a way of loving?

And even when it comes to God—not every single day are you going to feel affection toward Him, but choosing to honor and obey Him anyway—isn't that love?

But is that really all there is to it? Just putting someone's needs before your own, because you know you should?

Shouldn't there be some heart involved—and by heart I mean, emotion?

I think we are sort of brought up to believe that our emotions get in our way. And sometimes, they definitely do. But we are taught to control them, to act outside of them, to ignore them, put them aside.

Forget your emotions and do what's “right.”

And sometimes, absolutely, we must do this.

But I don't think God would have created us with emotions if they were not important—or even absolutely essential—to our existence.

Is love a feeling?

Yes.

I think so.

It is not just a feeling, that comes and goes because we truly are, by nature, fickle creatures.

We do have to continue to choose it.

But there is a certain amount of affection that comes into play.

I think God doesn't just want our robotic service because we know it's the right thing to do. I don't think He really looks on that as love.

I think He wants our affection.

If all He wanted was for us just to obey, obey, obey, wouldn't He have made that the greatest commandment?

Obey the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul...

But, no, I don't think that's what He's like at all!

I think He wants us to want it.

And so this commandment to love Him is really more than just a demand that we put Him first in our lives.

I think it's an invitation to know Him.

It's Him inviting us into His heart.

Which is beautiful.

Which is good.

Which is not demanding.

“Love does not demand it's own way.”

This command is his way of saying, “The most important thing is that you know who I am, so that you will have a deep affection for me and want to put me before all else...with all your heart...with all your soul...with all your strength...”

And honestly? The more I see glimpses of His heart, the more I do feel affection toward Him.

I think if we accepted that invitation to know His heart, we would find this command so much less burdensome. He never meant to weigh us down.

Even Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Do we think that's a joke? Sometimes it seems like it.

Yeah, right, Jesus. Are you serious? Look what you're asking me to do.

But no.

An invitation to know Him is an invitation to experience deep affection.

And if you are truly, deeply affectionate toward someone . . . you will want to do anything for that person.

And I think a God as amazing as ours does not simply want us to know Him and love Him just so He can get service out of us, either.

It's His way of loving us back.

Because He knows that our loving and following Him truly is the best thing for us.

It fulfills our every need.

It satisfies us.

It causes us to live life to the fullest, as we were always intended to do.

And so we are intertwined in this loving relationship with God—our loving Him satisfies His heart, and His loving us satisfies our hearts.

Without this bond, this relationship, we are unwhole, incomplete, without hope for satisfaction.

So this command to love God is really not meant to be one of duty.

It's an invitation to life.

 







Be prepared to be surprised...  it's all I know.   ~Sondre Lerche

When I open my eyes and examine my reflection, I see that I am much like the ones I don't want to be.

They think that life ought to be a straight and easy path, no ruts along the road.  They want no mountains to climb or valleys to cross through.  They only want to get from here to there the quick and easy way. 

They have the world at the tips of their fingers.  Little plastic cards clutched in their fists--the sixteen magic numbers that make their desires a reality.  Their hunger satisfied at the click of an online button.

Instantaneous results, like a microwave dinner, have become so commonplace that they expect nothing else. 

But it means little to them.

At the end of the day, their lives are no more full because of what they have gained.

When I open my ears to listen to my spoken words, I hear that I am much like them, these ones that I don't want to be.

What need have they to press on, when everything is set at their feet?

When I am hungry, do not drop food into my lap.

When I am thirsty, let me search for streams of water.

Only then will I be truly satisfied...

...because I know that what I will value the most is that which costs me something to gain.