It’s amazing how in the bible your love for God is not measured by the strength and depth of the feeling you have or the amount of time you spend thinking about the one you love but rather by your obedience to God’s words. Indeed, Jesus said “if you love me you will obey my commands” (John 14:15). So then, to love is to obey. Jesus knew much about love because his own love led him to complete obedience which included dying on the cross ultimately. Love is a choice, but it is much more than a choice, it is a choice to obey, to follow, to surrender, to die to self. As I read through the lives of the first kings of Israel, I am reminded that to simply say you love God is not enough, you must obey Him for your love to count as such.
King David loved God, and it is evident in the many Psalms he wrote for his God. You also saw his love in his worship, in his desire to build God a temple, in the way he honoured God and sought to serve him. All those things were beautiful and good, yet they did not stop David from sinning against the Lord. Meditating on God, wanting to be in the presence of God as Psalms 84 says “better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked” are not enough to say one loves God. David has shown us that you can have the best of intentions, the best desires, the strongest feelings and yet not love God according to His definition of love. 1 Kings 3 tells us that Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father David (1 Kings 3:3a). It is only when he walked according to the statutes of God that Solomon is said to have loved the Lord. Interestingly, in the bible, God has never celebrated anyone for simply desiring Him, obedience is often what is celebrated. This does not mean that feelings are to be tossed to the side, or that they are unimportant, that would be untrue but what it means is that feelings should not be valued above obedience.
Unfortunately, we live in a culture where the definition of love has been distorted. The emphasis on love has been placed entirely on feelings and emotions to the point that if there are no feelings or emotions involved, the society tells us it is not love. We are told to “follow our hearts” in matters of love yet following our hearts is in contrast with what the bible teaches. In the book of Jeremiah, we read: “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). According to the bible, you cannot base anything on your heart because it is unreliable. Is it any surprise then that our marriages fail today? No wonder divorce rate is rampant and not in any way ready to slow down. The bible is our compass, it provides us the very counsel of God. Our mandate is to deconstruct our mindsets from what the world teaches us and realign our mindsets with what the word of God says. Paul instructs us to not get conformed to the pattern of this world but instead to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). Paul recognized the dangers of the society, he also recognized that living by the spirit was contrary to the living standards of the culture. The latter are based on the flesh and we know that both natures are always at war with each other. So Paul’s solution is to renew our minds because he knows that “for as a man thinketh within himself, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Indeed, faith comes through hearing and hearing the word of God. The more you hear it, the more you get transformed by it. The same is true of whatever else we consume and let near our hearts. Hence, we ought to guard our hearts so that only what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, deserving of honour, etc. gets ingrained there and grows in it (Philippians 4:8).
In conclusion, as redeemed people, we have to be constantly cross checking our beliefs with the bible. Love is a small example of how big the gap is between the bible’s definition and our culture’s. Sadly there are many more discrepancies like that. between our society and God’s ways. We are not of this world, we were bought at a high price, one that none of us can repay and so we ought to live like citizens of the new kingdom we were brought into, the kingdom of light. Thanks be to God who did not leave us in this battle alone as He had promised, He gave us His Holy Spirit to help us. I pray we learn to value obedience in everything we do, especially when it comes to honouring God. In the parable of two sons, Jesus reminds us once again that obedience has nothing to do with what we say, or feel but it has everything to do with what we do, our action (Matthew 21:28-31). That is why, when you do not feel like praying, you should pray; when you do not feel like forgiving, you should forgive; when you do not feel like serving, you should serve, etc. Feelings are the last thing we should be focusing on when it comes to doing the will of the Father. May the Lord open our eyes to see where we fail when it comes to loving Him!
A Word Aptly Spoken 