How Much Do You Love God?
In this episode of the Connecting Faith & Life Podcast, I grapple with the question of how much I love God. Can my love for God be quantified? How can my love for God be measured? A student asked me this question and it’s a great question.
[0:00] Intro
[2:30] "How much do you love God?"
[8:00] How to measure my love for God
[13:20] Does God love me?
[17:45] Final thoughts
Bible Verses:
John 21
Matthew 22:34-40
Luke 10: 25-28
Psalm 103:14-16
2 Corinthians 5: 14-15
John 14: 15
1 John 5: 1-5
Romans 5: 8
1 John 3: 1
Simply stated, yes, I love God.
The reason I can be confident in my answer is found in Matthew 22:34-40 and Luke 10:25-28. Jesus emphasizes the importance of loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is the greatest commandment and brings satisfaction and glory to God.
So I aspire to love God with everything within me. Am I perfect at this? No. But that is my ultimate goal.
Loving God is keeping His commandments. I can’t do this on my own. To live for God with everything is motivated by Christ's love and sacrifice for me. I can keep His commandments without burden. I want to love God more than anything else in this life.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15
Likewise, how much does God love me? “...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) God demonstrated His love through Christ's death for our sins, and we are children of God when we trust that Jesus Christ died for us.
I want to love God with everything within me. I have shortcomings, but I know I can depend on God's grace and kindness poured out on me.