Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Henry Blackaby
Devotional: To Know God is to Love Him
We will never obey God if we don’t completely believe in trust Him. In turn, we cannot believe in Him if we do not love Him. Finally, we can only love God if we know Him. All this leads to obedience and it all starts with knowing Him.
He Gives and Gives and Gives
One of the most powerful things to understand about God is that he’s constantly giving. The fact that you’re alive right now is testimony to the fact that he’s very giving. He’s given you grace. He’s giving you another chance to live. Since the Bible is clear that the penalty of sin is death and we’re all sinners the fact that we’re still alive means that he’s given us another chance. You can’t help but fall in love with somebody who continues to give and give and give.
He Gives to the Undeserving
It’s very clear that God gave us Jesus Christ but not because we did something to earn that mercy or because we are good people. The Bible is clear that even when we were still enemies of Christ and didn’t know Him, He gave His life for us. If God would only save people that deserve to be saved, there would have been no need for Jesus. People would only need to fill out a checklist and do what’s needed to be saved. Obviously, that is not how it works. If you understand this, you can’t help but fall in love with God because He gives to the undeserving.
His Love Knows no Bounds
If you ever need proof of the lack of limits of God’s love, take a look at the parables. Time and time again, Jesus highlights how God loves us so much that he forgets how to count. He forgets all ideas of proportion and merit and just keeps on giving and giving and giving. That’s boundless love. You can’t help but be transformed by that level of love.
This Love Transforms
The Bible is full of stories of not so great people but through their relationship with God, they were transformed into completely different people. This is a very powerful incentive to know God because we know we’re broken and we know deep down, there’s something wrong with us. If we really want to get to the root of the solution, we need to know Jesus.
This Love Enables us to Love Others
If you want to truly love other people based on the definition of love mentioned in first Corinthians, you really can’t do it on your own. That kind of love only comes from God. Love that asks for nothing in return is not humanly possible. But by knowing God, we can be on our way to unleashing that kind of love in our lives.
Conclusion
If you want to let God’s love flow through your life and get a full appreciation of God’s love, start by deciding to know Jesus Christ today. After all, to know Jesus is to love him.
