For The Love of God, Part II

The most misunderstood idea about the bible is often figuring out just how to love a God that we can not see. It is easy to make God and Jesus more of an figment of our imagination, a sort of absentee God. A deity that is high above in the heavens who is not aware of us or a being far off from us. However, one of the keys to faith is understanding that God is so real that you actually have to have a REAL relationship with him.

A very important step came in my own Christian walk when the Holy Spirit revealed to me that even though I had always claimed him to be a real person in my life, God unfortunately was not a real person to me at all. He even spoke to me and said it almost in a flip kind of way.  His words I'll never forget. He said, "You don't treat me like I am real." Plain and simple. Right in the middle of prayer, that is what He said to me. I really had to stop and take a cold and hard look at my life and how I treated God on a daily basis. What I found was not so pretty. I was not investing in Him at all, I was not spending time with Him or even acknowledging Him in anyway whatsoever.  I only prayed to Him when I was lost and could not find a way out of situations on my own... when I thought all hope was gone and found myself backed up in a corner I couldn't wiggle out of. I only picked up the bible once or twice a year and I would only read it until it pissed me off.... but He didn't give up on me quite as easily because He just kept drawing me back.

It was at this time that I realized I had a lack of love in my heart for Jesus and the Father. As I rectified this problem and started spending time in His word and in prayer, I started to experience this love and an incredible inspiring awe for God. I finally understood that to have faith in Jesus Christ is not just a statement that we believe but instead to treat Him like He is your best friend and a real person in your life. I learned that through it all, (while I was so worried about being a good person for God, at least when it was convenient for me to do so), all along He only wanted me to love Him. It is not just about loving God but also loving others. Learning how to love Jesus and the Father shows us how to love others and treat people with compassion and understanding. All He wants is our love. Have you loved Jesus today?

1John 4:16-21

16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
      God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.