How does someone love God?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

The Bible calls us to love God. Recognizing that He is the only God, we are called to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). Loving God means knowing Him more deeply through His Word and prayer and allowing His truth to transform and guide our lives. Worshiping Him in words and actions, including obeying His commands, shows our love for Him and our desire to please Him (John 14:15). Our love for God extends to loving others, serving them with our time and talents as a reflection of His love for us (Matthew 22:37-39). In other words, loving God means living out His will in every area of our lives.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• The central commandment of Israel's faith was to love God with all their heart, soul, and might, loving Him above all else (Deuteronomy 6:5; Joshua 22:5).
• When you know the deeper intricacies of a person, it only helps you to appreciate and love him/her more. Knowing God helps us to love Him more (Psalm 34:8).
• The book of Psalms provides insight as to how we can love God through our worship, praise, and thanksgiving (e.g., Psalms 8, 19, 23, 24, 67, 99, 100, 117, and 150).
• God's Word teaches us about His character, and it helps us to love Him (Psalm 119:105). As we learn His Word and seek Him in it, we find that God is the source of all that we need: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:25–26). By reading God's Word and spending time in prayer, we get to know His voice and His heart.
• Loving God means obeying Him, yet obeying Him is not mere following of rules and regulations; it is rooted in His love for us. When we know how much God loves us, the logical response is that we please Him (Psalm 40:8).

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• The command to love God is repeated in the New Testament (Matthew 22:37-38; Mark 12:30). Jesus even directly quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, reaffirming that loving God is the most important commandment and expanding it past just the Israelites. He also adds loving Him with our mind. At the core, loving God means that we put Him first in every area of our lives.
• God must be our number one priority. As we focus on Him, we are better able to love Him not just in our words but in our actions. This includes obeying His command to love others, which is the second greatest commandment (Mark 12:31).
• One way we show God love is by worshiping and praising Him alone (Luke 4:8).
• When we love God, we obey what He commands (John 14:15, 23; 15:10; 1 John 5:3). This is not rooted in merely rote religious requirements; it is rooted in God’s love for us and our love for Him. Our love for God is not passive; it must lead to action– following His teachings and commands and living in a godly way.
• Our love for Him comes from understanding His love for us. As 1 John 4:19 says: "We love because he first loved us." When we truly know God and experience His love for us, we willingly choose to love Him back.
• We cannot love both the world and God simultaneously (1 John 2:15).

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

Loving God is a wholehearted devotion that calls us to engage every part of who we are—our emotions, spirit, mind, and body. It’s more than a feeling; it’s an active choice to seek Him with everything we have. We love Him with our heart by nurturing a deep affection for Him, pouring out our praise in worship and prayer. Just as the psalmist longs for God’s presence (Psalm 42:1), we seek Him with our whole being through His Word, through prayer, and even through enjoying a beautiful sunrise or hike and remembering our Creator. We commit to walking in His ways, allowing His truth to transform us, much like Jesus did when He stood firm in the Word while confronting Satan (Matthew 4:4). Loving God with our mind means actively seeking to understand His will and letting His Word and wisdom shape our thoughts, desires, heart, and will, as Paul urges in Romans 12:2.

But love for God doesn’t stop there—it compels us to act. We love Him with our strength by using our time, talents, and energy to serve others, just as Jesus called us to in Mark 10:42-45. Our devotion comes to life when we serve in our communities, show kindness to those in need, and do our work with excellence, all for His glory. Loving God is a total commitment, a devotion that permeates every area of our lives, inviting us to respond to His love by living out His will with our whole being.

UNDERSTAND

• Loving God means knowing Him deeply.
• Loving God means obeying Him. Obedience is not about rules but about relationship—responding to His love with a desire to please Him and live according to His ways.
• Loving God means giving Him our whole selves, placing Him above all else in every area of life.

REFLECT

• How are you actively getting to know God more deeply?
• Are there any areas in your life where you're holding back from obeying God out of fear, comfort, or distraction?
• What does it look like for you personally to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength in your daily life?

ENGAGE

• How can we encourage others to pursue a deeper relationship with God, not just religious activity?
• What are some practical ways we can love God with our time, talents, and energy as individuals and as a community?
• How does loving God affect the way we treat and serve others, especially when it's inconvenient or uncomfortable?