To Know you is To Love You

The other day I prayed a prayer... I was on my knees, something I haven't done in a great while. And something in my heart lead me to be humbled before God.

As I pondered on His great love for me and then to wonder about my love for Him,

I was convicted that I don't love God as I should.

Do you?

Does anyone?

I guess when I question how much I love Him, I can't help but think about all that He has done for me... and that's where the challenge for me begins...

"Dear God, do I love you simply because of all you've given me?

Is it the grace, you've shown?

Your mercy, true?

Do I love you simply because of all these beautiful gifts that surround me?

My children, family, and friends?

My welfare, my health?

I'm sorry Lord, I can't help but think of these when I think of how much I love you."

In my selfish state I wonder, shouldn't I love Him just because? Indeed, that is how He loves me!

And furthermore, I realize that I should love Him because of who He is. His character is worth not only my affections, but my honor and glory. You see the more I get to know who God is, and how He is... well, the more I grow fond of Him.

Getting to know who God is...

Those are the key words. You see, how much can you love a God that you don't really know much about? And if you're not getting to know Him, how can you really appreciate Him? And how can you show Him your love, if you don't spend time with Him?

I don't know about you, but I've had my share of loss in friendships. It makes me feel very sad to think about the friendships I've lost and how at one point I thought they were so special... and yet the reality is that unless you nurture a friendship, it will eventually become stagnate.

It's similar in our relationships with God. I don't ever mean to say that we can lose our relationship with God, once it has been established. But what I'm trying to say is that in order for my relationship with God to grow... in order for me to learn more of who He is... in order for me to truly love and honor Him just because, I have got to get to know Him more...

I grew up in "church". I've been a professed Christian for a really long time, and so it's easy for us "old timers" to get comfortable and think that we know all we need to know about God. But have you ever had that moment when you open the Bible to a verse that you have known for a really long time, and as you read it one more time, you gain a deeper understanding or application?

When I ponder upon His character... to know that He is Holy above all else... it's like there's this transparent wall that sets me in the place of humility and complete reverence for my God--- it reminds me that I cannot compare, nothing can compare to God.

And when I think about His protection, His mercies, His loving kindness, His guidance, His plans for me... that is when I feel Him coming closer to me, as if lifting that transparent barrier and personally touching me... and my life in so many ways. Indeed I am loved!

And I am grateful. But do I love thee, Lord?

I want to, Lord!

http://youtu.be/LxFsxugWkwQ

1 John 4:9
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

1 John 3:1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children ofGod! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 Corinthians 8:3
But whoever loves God is known by God.

Romans 8:39
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 36:7
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.