The love of God toward man is the theme of the Bible. The most well known verse in all of Scripture speaks of God sending His Son into the world because He “so loved” it (John 3:16). Page after page of the Bible is given to the holy and divine love of God toward man. The Bible is not a book about man seeking God; it is the story of God seeking man. God moved first. We love Him because He loved us first (1 John 4:19). But God has always required a response of love on the part of man if man would be pleasing to Him.
1. THE CHARGE TO LOVE. “But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Jos. 22:5)
God made it clear to Israel that they would have to love Him to remain in a right relationship with Him and continue to receive His blessings. “Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always.” (Deut. 11:1)
When Jesus was questioned about the greatest commandment in the law, He answered in a very unsurprising way: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matt. 22:37-39).
No matter what we try to bring to the table in our dealings with God, there is nothing that is as important as a heart of love for Him. Love leads to other things, to be sure, but everything that we do must be motivated by a desire to serve God because of who He is. No amount of Christian service in the world will replace the need for genuine love for God. “And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mk. 12:33).