Loving God is more than a song...its life.
In the book of Ecclesiastes King Solomon wrote,
"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Ecc. 12:13)
Jesus echoed this in the New Testament when a Pharisee asked Him what the greatest commandment was, He responded with two.
First, we are to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. In other words, we are to love Him with all our being. He wants everything. Jesus often spoke of the cost of following Him. He said it would cost us our lives:
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." (Luke 9:23,24)
Jesus is not speaking of martyrdom, though for many that has and will be the case, rather He is speaking in spiritual terms. In His famous sermon on the mount, Jesus begins with what is known as the beatitudes.
Chapter five, verse three of Matthew's gospel, Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are poor in spirit."Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." His concern is spiritual poverty, in other words, those who realize life is not a self-focused agenda. Rather God who exists, and who is Good brought us into being.
Knowing our own sinfulness, the realization comes that we are truly poor no matter what treasure we may have on Earth. At some point we die, its only a matter of time.When that time comes, can we say we Loved God? Did we fully embrace His love, renouncing all that we have, did we give up our agenda for Him?
Another way to say this is: is Jesus everything to us, because if He is, if we have given Him our lives, embracing His love for us, then we can say we Love God.
And if we truly Love God, then our lives will show it!
"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Ecc. 12:13)
Jesus echoed this in the New Testament when a Pharisee asked Him what the greatest commandment was, He responded with two.
First, we are to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. In other words, we are to love Him with all our being. He wants everything. Jesus often spoke of the cost of following Him. He said it would cost us our lives:
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." (Luke 9:23,24)
Jesus is not speaking of martyrdom, though for many that has and will be the case, rather He is speaking in spiritual terms. In His famous sermon on the mount, Jesus begins with what is known as the beatitudes.
Chapter five, verse three of Matthew's gospel, Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are poor in spirit."Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." His concern is spiritual poverty, in other words, those who realize life is not a self-focused agenda. Rather God who exists, and who is Good brought us into being.
Knowing our own sinfulness, the realization comes that we are truly poor no matter what treasure we may have on Earth. At some point we die, its only a matter of time.When that time comes, can we say we Loved God? Did we fully embrace His love, renouncing all that we have, did we give up our agenda for Him?
Another way to say this is: is Jesus everything to us, because if He is, if we have given Him our lives, embracing His love for us, then we can say we Love God.
And if we truly Love God, then our lives will show it!