Do You Love God With All Your Heart?

DanielGarneau

DanielGarneau

Member
Jan 1, 2015
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What would be your response to the somewhat provocative question: Do You Love God With All Your Heart? My own response came through asking myself some correlated questions. These helped me delve into this very fundamental Christian teaching.

What is your response to this very important question? How does it help you in your Christian walk reflect on it?
 
DanielGarneau said:
Do You Love God With All Your Heart?
What is your response to this very important question?
Click to expand...
No.

Premise 1: To disobey God is sin (1 John 8:1)
Premise 2: We all sin
Premise 3: Anyone who sins does not love (volition to favor) God completely
Conclusion: No one Loves God with all their heart

DanielGarneau said:
How does it help you in your Christian walk reflect on it?
Click to expand...

I realize my short comings to a degree and the need for an advocate to intercede on my behalf to plead my case. (Romans 8:34)
 
Thank you for answering. My reaction to this question when it was asked of me in the context of a Church study group was to split the question into the following: What does it mean to love God? What does it mean to love God with all our heart? What obstacles hinder us from loving God with all our hearts? What should we change to increase in our love for God, and what resources are at our disposal to love God with all our heart? I found the exercise useful as it led me to ponder over some biblical passage where this theme is presented and explained in Old and New Testament.
 
It is interesting to me that though the Law demands that we love God, our salvation is not predicated on we loving God. It is only based on our faith towards God.

Thus when we first became a Christian and believed, from whatever background, did we love God? I don't think so. We didn't know Him. We know we are saved by Him, but as yet we did not know Him.

Our love toward God comes with our experience and relationship with Him in the Person of Jesus Christ. If we don't spend time with Him, how can we love Him? If we do spend time with Him then our love for Him always grows. It doesn't have to be demanded. It is a response. We know His love, causing us to love Him.

Quantrill
 
They who, in their obedience, attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate, and to do more than God requires, as that they fall short of much which in the duty they are bound to do. [to fall short of ones duty to God is to not love Him with all ones heart] ... Luke 17:10; Job 9:2,3; Galatians 5:17
wcf
 
The God in me loves God with all their heart. But He doesn't surface much. Weighed down by sin. Smothered by sin. Buried by sin.
 
I'm sure this has been said before but it bears repeating.

You can demand love, make a law that you must love, but never obtain love. And God knows this. He gave the law to love Him. That is right and what we should do. But that, the Law, simply showed us what we were not able to do.

We can say we love Him. After all, we are supposed to love Him. But who really loves Him?

Peter said he would die for Christ. Yet he denied Him. (Matt. 26:33) (Matt. 26:69-75) After the resurrection Christ centered on this failure of Peter and asked Peter and said "lovest thou me more than these?" (John 21:15,16,17) Peter was now not so bold.

Then you have John. John sees himself, not as one who loves Jesus, but as one who Jesus loves. (John 13:23), (19:26), (20:2), (21:7), (21:20), and (21:24) John knew the love of Christ. And though all the disciples abandoned Christ at the beginning of His arrest and trial, who was it who returned and was at the foot of the cross as Christ died? It was John. (John 19:26)

In other words, who was faithful? Who loved Jesus? The one who knew he was loved by Jesus. Love begats love. Love is never obtained by law. Love is never manifested by boasting or good sound words.

Quantrill
 
DanielGarneau, Quantrill , Fastfredy0, humble soul, EvolvingChristian
Good morning all :wave
There are standards all throughout the bible of what God see's us doing overtime to achieve those standards, and our salvation and eternal life, but it's left up to us individually how to accomplish those things.

Problems begin to arise when people decide they will set the standard on how things for God are achieved, and they must be accomplished the way specified, say in a church, or Christian circles, or you're not allowed to fit in - REJECTED.

For me as an older believer, I found learning to love God was and is, a continuing process, much like being in a good marriage, where over the years you continue to learn more loving things about your spouse that makes your love grow for them more and more.

I found the same to be true about God.
The more He revealed himself to me, by the way He has provided so much, all the answered prayers, and all the miracles and the protection He's accomplished has just been overwhelming.

When you start feeling gratitude and start praising God more and more because the blessings are almost impossible to comprehend, at least for me, the Love in your heart begins and then starts to grow as more and more you feel God working in more and more areas of your life.

For me, love is a process like salvation, that continues to grow and change until we pass or Christ returns.
I love God the way I'm called to, the rest of you love God the way you're called to - SIMPLE.

Seasoned by Grace
 
Last edited:
Quantrill said:
It is interesting to me that though the Law demands that we love God, our salvation is not predicated on we loving God. It is only based on our faith towards God.
Click to expand...


Quantrill
I wanted to reply to this part of your statement the says, "Our salvation is not predicated on loving God."
I wanted to offer you a thought for you to consider.

The entire bible is filled with God's love for us, and stories of men and women's love for God, and how that love played out.
My response is to your statement is in 1st Cor. 13: 1-3&13, "that without love I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, (2) "And if I know all mysteries and have all knowledge, and have all faith, but do not have LOVE I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to the poor, and if I delivered my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
(13) But now abide faith, hope and love, these three, but the GREATEST of these is love.

Peace and Love - God bless
Seasoned by Grace
 
Fastfredy0 said:
They who, in their obedience, attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate, and to do more than God requires, as that they fall short of much which in the duty they are bound to do. [to fall short of ones duty to God is to not love Him with all ones heart] ... Luke 17:10; Job 9:2,3; Galatians 5:17
wcf
Click to expand...

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3


“If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14:15


If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10





JLB
 
My love for God isn't about verses and legalism and rule-keeping.
I learned to love God by being aware of His love for me in the way He constantly watches over me in His protection and provisions, and wonderfully answered prayers for strangers, friends, and loved ones.

Thank the Lord, God answered my prayers to learn to love him because He is so incredible.
The bible says we should love Him, but the test for ourselves is what God does in my life to help me learn to love and what are the results of my efforts?

Thank you God that your supernatural love is something you place in our hearts, and can never be accomplished on our own.
It was such a joy learning to love at the feet of God. Am I done learning? Of course not. I will be learning for the rest of my life.

Do I love Him with all my heart?
Of course not, but I am working on doing my best because God is worth it.
 
DanielGarneau said:
What would be your response to the somewhat provocative question: Do You Love God With All Your Heart? My own response came through asking myself some correlated questions. These helped me delve into this very fundamental Christian teaching.

What is your response to this very important question? How does it help you in your Christian walk reflect on it?
Click to expand...
My response is...YES.
Without loving God with all my strength and being, it would show that I had raised something above God.
That is idolatry.
 
Quantrill said:
It is interesting to me that though the Law demands that we love God, our salvation is not predicated on we loving God. It is only based on our faith towards God.

Thus when we first became a Christian and believed, from whatever background, did we love God? I don't think so. We didn't know Him. We know we are saved by Him, but as yet we did not know Him.

Our love toward God comes with our experience and relationship with Him in the Person of Jesus Christ. If we don't spend time with Him, how can we love Him? If we do spend time with Him then our love for Him always grows. It doesn't have to be demanded. It is a response. We know His love, causing us to love Him.

Quantrill
Click to expand...
When I came to the Lord, we had a love/hate relationship. He loved me and I hated Him.
 
Seasoned by Grace said:
Quantrill
I wanted to reply to this part of your statement the says, "Our salvation is not predicated on loving God."
I wanted to offer you a thought for you to consider.

The entire bible is filled with God's love for us, and stories of men and women's love for God, and how that love played out.
My response is to your statement is in 1st Cor. 13: 1-3&13, "that without love I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, (2) "And if I know all mysteries and have all knowledge, and have all faith, but do not have LOVE I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to the poor, and if I delivered my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
(13) But now abide faith, hope and love, these three, but the GREATEST of these is love.

Peace and Love - God bless
Seasoned by Grace
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree with all you have presented.

Quantrill
 
Seasoned by Grace said:
My love for God isn't about verses and legalism and rule-keeping.
I learned to love God by being aware of His love for me in the way He constantly watches over me in His protection and provisions, and wonderfully answered prayers for strangers, friends, and loved ones.

Thank the Lord, God answered my prayers to learn to love him because He is so incredible.
The bible says we should love Him, but the test for ourselves is what God does in my life to help me learn to love and what are the results of my efforts?

Thank you God that your supernatural love is something you place in our hearts, and can never be accomplished on our own.
It was such a joy learning to love at the feet of God. Am I done learning? Of course not. I will be learning for the rest of my life.

Do I love Him with all my heart?
Of course not, but I am working on doing my best because God is worth it.
Click to expand...
But you do keep the two commandments Jesus gave to us,, love God and love your nrighbour.
 
Seasoned by Grace said:
My love for God isn't about verses and legalism and rule-keeping.
I learned to love God by being aware of His love for me in the way He constantly watches over me in His protection and provisions, and wonderfully answered prayers for strangers, friends, and loved ones.

Thank the Lord, God answered my prayers to learn to love him because He is so incredible.
The bible says we should love Him, but the test for ourselves is what God does in my life to help me learn to love and what are the results of my efforts?

Thank you God that your supernatural love is something you place in our hearts, and can never be accomplished on our own.
It was such a joy learning to love at the feet of God. Am I done learning? Of course not. I will be learning for the rest of my life.

Do I love Him with all my heart?
Of course not, but I am working on doing my best because God is worth it.
Click to expand...

If we are doing His will, being led by the Spirit, listening for His Voice, its because we yearn to walk with Him and please Him...because we love Him.

In this mindset, His commandments are not burdensome.



Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You. Psalm 143:8




JLB
 
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