John 14:15 – If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

THEME OF THE DAY: A RESOLVE TO LOVE. In yesterday’s Daily Nugget, we re-affirmed the Biblical truth that the Christian life is one of constant spiritual warfare. There is another aspect of the Christian life that also is constant; a daily resolve to love God. The whole reason why God elected us in His Son before the foundation of the world was to “re-create” us in Christ so we may obey the Greatest Command – “to love God with our whole being” (Luke 10:27). The Apostle Paul would write the clearest statement of this truth found in our Bibles – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:3-10). And when it comes to living out the Christian life resolved to love God, there are three things we must be determined to pursue with uncompromising diligence and faithfulness.

First, to love God demands a resolve to know His Word which means unhurried and unhindered time in His Word. This is the starting point to really determine how serious we are to love God. In my pastoral ministry and times in the Navy, I heard many times Christians say, “I love the Lord” but when I ask, “How is your time in the Word?”, there is the head bowed and confession, “Not good. I am not really in the Word.” Friends, it is incompatible to say, “I love the Lord” and not be in His Word. In today’s scriptures, Jesus proclaims the criteria for loving Him, not “a criteria”, but the single criteria – obedience to His commands. The only way to obey His commands is to know His commands and that means consistent time in His Word to know His commands.

The second resolve to love God is the determination to know Him through Word-based prayer. Here is where we really get the sense on how passionate we are to know the Lord which leads to loving the Lord. It is our prayer life; not just the prayer life of getting things from God, but getting close to God. Prayer is the thermometer to take our spiritual temperature.

A third resolve which must be in our lives in order to pursue a love for God is the wholehearted commitment to fight against all sin. Yes, ALL sin, even the sins we “like” or tolerate. We know them. They are the ones the writer of Hebrews identify – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). It may be the “clinging sins” of coveting, envy, lust, complaining, impatience, materialism, or discontent. In order to love God, we must fight against them, all of them, allowing no foothold by any to be in our hearts.

Loving God is our great privilege and responsibility. It includes but goes far beyond our feelings. It requires resolve, gut-wrenching, sin-denying resolve. Without it, we simply will be more consumed with self-love than love for Him which is always selfless.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see You measure my love for you, not by my words but by my life of obedience.”

QUOTE: “We will only obey as we know what to obey. Written commands must be known before they can be lived.”