Love For God

Stop.

Set a timer for two minutes. Clear your mind of any thought other than your love for God. Envision breathing in God’s love with every breath.

Listen.

So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. – Deuteronomy 10:12

Reflect.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, it’s a wonderful opportunity to think about love. While you’re probably surrounded with pink hearts and red roses, we have to admit that the romantic love that is intended to represent isn’t the full picture of love. This week, let’s reflect on different aspects of love and what it means for our faith. Today, let’s consider our love for God. 

While sentiments like “God is love” come to us early in our faith education, it doesn’t take long for us to hear conflicting ideas. Many Biblical stories deal with God’s wrath, God’s mysterious action, and God’s unknowable nature. Along with those stories, we hear warnings that we must fear God, not love God. It can seem impossible to hold both things together. Why would you love something that makes you afraid? 

The word translated as “fear” in these Old Testament passages definitely means “fear”. Admittedly, it can also mean “revere”. In this sense, maybe love and fear stand closer together. When we love God, we love that which is so unlike us, so powerfully holy. It can be scary to trust something so beyond our knowledge and understanding. 

And so, while we fear God for God’s otherness, we know we can trust our God who loves us and love God faithfully and well. After all, love calls us beyond what we know and into something holy.

Pray.

I love you, God. I revere you. I recognize that you are not like me, and I trust your work. Let me love others as you love them. Amen.

Carry On.

Can you think of other relationships in your life that balance fear and love? How do they help reveal God to you?