“For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And His commands are not a burden…” 1 John 5:3
I wrestled with this for a long time as a teenager. I wanted to obey the Great Commandment, “love the Lord your God” (Matthew 22:37), but I didn’t always feel like I loved God. Sometimes I was afraid of Him. Other times I felt deep, overwhelming intimacy with Him. Most of the time, I didn’t feel anything special. How could I make myself love Him?
Discovering 1 John 5:3 changed everything for me. I realized in a flash that “feeling” love for God wasn’t the goal. The feeling of intimacy with God was a good gift but it was no lasting indicator of whether or not I loved Him. So also the feelings of fear and uncertainty…even doubt…that I wrestled with were no indications of not loving Him. Feelings just could not carry the weight of something so precious and weighty as relating to the Divine One.
No, the love for God to which the Spirit of God was leading me was a love demonstrated in faith-filled obedience. Like a child hearing and obeying instructions from his parent, I was hearing and obeying the Father’s instructions and in so doing demonstrating my trust and love. My feelings weren’t the thermometer of my relationship with God. My faith-filled obedience was.
What does your “love for God thermometer” show today? Are you keeping His commands? Are they a joyful delight or a toilsome burden?
Think These Things 