“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deut. 6:5
I was changing the diaper on paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon after a long and wonderful day loving and serving God as my ministry continued to rapidly grow when I started speaking to the Lord in my heart like I so often do.
“God, when my life is over and I stand before you, I want to know that you felt loved by me.” Within a minute or so I knew I needed to get to the computer to start writing. The Spirit of God pressed on my heart that there was a message for others in what I was conveying to God. A message – and a question about God. For you.
When you stand before the Lord after your life is over, will God tell you that He felt loved by you? For years, I thought loving God was all about serving God. It was all about what I could physically do. Oftentimes I had impure motives. I felt I had to prove my love to Him. I figured loving God was about doing stuff for Him, about obedience and action. But God’s Spirit has gotten a hold of me and showed me what really matters. Serving God in ministry for me has most assuredly become an expression of my amazing love for Him, rather than a matter of works and proving myself as it once was, but God has taught me the love He desires comes from my heart. Now I am consumed with Him. My heart is aflame for Him. I cannot get enough of Him. Nor enough of loving Him. Feeling love for Him. Thinking about Him. Talking to Him. Talking about Him. Praising Him. Singing to Him. Worshiping Him. Listening to Him. Studying His Word. Hungering for Him. Crying out to Him. Pouring out my heart to Him. Telling Him endlessly how much I love Him. Passionately seeking His face, His presence. His fellowship. His company. Communing with Him. Continually. Talking to Him in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. Rising early to walk around my prayer room singing more to Him, praying more to Him, calling out to Him. Longing for Him. Thirsty for Him. Desiring Him. Needing Him. Proclaiming Him to the world. Meditating on His beauty. Desperately wanting this world to believe in Jesus, to love Jesus, to follow Jesus, to glorify God. Helping people to follow Jesus forever. So wanting to please God. Oh, to have more of Him. More knowing Him. Nearer to Him. More God. Adoring Him. Exalting and revering Him. Magnifying Him in my heart above all else.
There’s nothing wrong with baking cookies for widows, distributing clothes to the poor, giving food to the hungry, adopting orphans, etc. We MUST serve God. But the foundation of it all, the foundation of our very lives, our very highest priority, should be loving God – with every ounce of our hearts.
Does God know you love Him? Does He feel loved by you?