To Love Him More
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
It doesn’t seem like a hard thing—loving God. Most of us were raised with it. We know who He is. We know what He’s done for us. And in our hearts, we love Him.
Love. I use the word idly—I love a movie, or a book, or a song. But do I really understand what it means? What Christ has done for me, and how I should respond? My love for Christ is nothing like Christ’s love for me. He is selfless; I am constantly pressing myself to the forefront. He is forgiving; I am stubborn. He is perfect; I am a living image of imperfection.
It’s in my imperfections that I begin to lose myself. It’s so easy to try to fix them myself—to approach it practically, and see what happens. If I work hard enough, maybe I can cultivate that beautiful relationship with Christ that my whole being craves…
But it never happens that way.
The irony is maddening. Love isn’t the goal; it’s the means. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if I simply loved God more. Would there even be a need for anything else? Or would He shine through me with such brilliance that all else becomes trivial?
Suddenly, the other things seem less significant; the work, no longer necessary. I want to strip away the complexities in pursuit of a higher goal: to love Him more. Because only when we have learned from the Author of love can that love overflow to others.
Neat post Beth.
I like it…. now I’m thinking of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 
“Only when we have learned from the Author of Love can that love overflow to others”
Amen. amen. amen. Love the post!!:)
“Greater Love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13
Sometimes it’s hard to understand God’s love. That what He is doing is actually loving. But maybe that’s because our view of love becomes flawed every now and then, and it seems to mean more of a personal opinion on something.
*Love = Sacrifice.*
Thanks for the post Beth. Keep ‘em coming!! ;-D
Yes, Beth, yes. I understand. I’ll be praying that both of us love Jesus more and more. You really need to read the book “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. Your post made me think of a sentence I read in it yesterday:
“The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by.”
Love you.
P.S. I like the picture too
That was beautiful. Thank you for the encouragment, Beth! I was blessed by reading this!
vary true,vary true good post. keeps us on track of what really maters.
Wow. I need to hear this more often. Thank you, Bethy.
Did I ever tell you that you write beautifully? Because you do.
Amen Beth! I’ve been trying to love God more, mostly by reading the Bible, which, I’m ashamed to say, is something I have not really ever done. But since I have started reading it, it has helped me so much in my times of need.
So, are you excited about FASA?
God Bless,
Taylor