What does it mean to Love God?

Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” – but what does it really mean to Love God?

Is it about going to church every Sunday?
Is it about reading your bible regularly?
Is it praying?
Is it fasting?
Is it singing songs?
Is it giving your money?
Is it taking communion?

It is easy to get caught in the rituals of Christianity and do all of these things and still not actually love God. Don’t get me wrong – they are all important – and can be expressions of your love for God – but they can also be done without loving God.

To try and understand this more – let’s go back to some of the original translations. In this scripture, love is translated from the word agapao (this is not to be confused with the word agape – which is a noun that means unconditional love – or God’s love for mankind). Agapao is a verb that means to totally give yourself over to something, to be totally committed or totally consumed.

It is used in other parts of the Bible, like 1 John 2:15, where John says “love not the world, nor the things that are in the world.”

So loving God is about surrendering yourself – to get a Kingdom perspective on life – to live for His will first,  not yours. Jesus’ commandment goes on to say to love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength. I love The Message translation of this, to help understand what that really means – to love God with your passion, prayer, intelligence and energy.

I am consumed, I am committed. He has my passion, my prayer, my intelligence and my energy.

Be The Church.

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