Mark 12:30 Loving God

Do you love God?

I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that a lot of you have never really thought about it.  We worship God, we praise God, we serve God.  We fear God, but love? 

We should, because it’s the single most important thing you can do in life.

Somebody asked Jesus that question.  He worded it slightly differently, but he asked: Which is the first commandment of all?  Mark 12:28

And Jesus’ answer: Mark 12:30  you shall love the Lord your God out of all your heart, and out of all your soul, and out of all your mind, and out of all your strength.  [I translated it a little more literally.  I think the prepositions convey a slightly different sense than we are used to.]

If you were to hear a sermon or read a book about loving God, I am sure they will quote you John 14:15: ¹⁵ “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

But that doesn’t mean that a person who keeps God’s commandments loves God or that you can measure your love by how diligently you keep His commandments.

Certainly, anyone who loves God will want to keep His commandments and will do them.

But that’s not our question. 

Do you love God?

God didn’t create human beings in His image, so that they would keep His commandments.  There weren’t any commandments when He created them.

So why did God create human beings?

To praise and worship Him?

Oh, they will, but I don’t really think that was the reason He created them.

Before I give my answer, I am thinking that I may need to put a cautionary note here first.  I’m not sure this lesson is for everyone.  I do think people need to know about it, and I am sure there will be some people who won’t like this.  I might ask the question why I didn’t learn about this 50 years ago.

I’ve mentioned before how that I hit rock-bottom spiritually in 2017.  Couldn’t pray.  Didn’t even want to talk to God.

The first step in repairing my Christian life was to focus my attention to the greatness of God as Creator.  I’ve had that much of my life but wasn’t thinking much about it.  This was nothing I did.  I was reading Ezekiel, and I can’t even find the exact passage now, but I was struck with the sense of the greatness of God.  As Creator, He is worthy

I am thinking that what I am about to share is only for those who have a strong sense of the awesomeness of God.  You should know about it, but this is still new to me in many ways, and I am seeing that there is still much to learn about it.

It’s not something that I can point to in a lot of verses and make a doctrine out of it.  Now that I’m seeing it, I am seeing it in more verses in the Bible. I’m sure I’ll be talking about this more in the future now that I think I learned something.

Read Genesis 3:8:

8 And they [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

What was God doing?  Was He doing anything differently from what He had always been doing?  Was this the first time He did this?

So what was He doing?  It looks like God would just come to the garden to spend time with Adam and Eve.  What we would call today hanging out.  Where we are conscious of His presence as we would anyone else who might be with us, and we talk with Him throughout the day like we would with anyone else who was spending the day with us. 

We often prayer into a formal conversation with well-defined parts: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication (ACTS).  And an ending.  When we’re done.

I’m saying that most of the time we’re never done. 

Yes, certain times you might hear of some big need or problem, and, yes, you might pray like Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah, Aren’t You God in heaven?  Aren’t You the Ruler on the earth?  And you make a request and finish it with Jesus’ Name. 

But most times it’s more ordinary stuff.

I was walking the dog.  I told God what a beautiful day it was. The trees were beautiful.  I thanked Him for our dog.  She’s a good dog. 

I pray for people I see on the street, at the store. 

I do the songs, and I know the phrases. I just think God likes it better when I say my own things.

Look at Psalm 27:4,8 (NASB95)  ⁴ One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple. . . .  ⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”

This may look like I am just picking verses out of context.  I skipped three verses in the middle here.  No, I always know the context of verses I use.  I wanted you to see David seeking God just for God and not for the prayers he wanted answered.

David’s life had a lot more going on in it than mine has had for a while.  I am finding it’s easier to transition into heavier prayer when you’ve already been praying most of the day.

I’m sure I will have much more to say about this as time goes on.