You may not actually love God
There is a test in the bible that reveals our hearts so plainly that when we take it, we will see if we truly love God and are His children or if we don't truly love Him and are not. Read below to take the test and find out if your heart has been deceiving you
In 1 John we are given a test to see if we truly know and love God. Anyone who claims to be a Christian would quickly say that they love God. What's sad is that many husbands say they love their wives while verbally or physically abusing them. Many mothers and fathers would say they love their kids while spoiling them. We may say we love God but what does our life say?
1 John 2:4-5
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
John 14:15
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:21a, 24
21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me...24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
Saying you love God and actually loving Him are two very different things. John says here that if we don't keep his commands, we don't actually love Him. So, what are His commands?
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
For starters, Jesus says to go and make disciples. Now, if we know that not keeping His commands is indicative of not loving Him, and we have never gone to make disciples, what does that say about us? That we don't love God! You may have perfect attendance in your church for the past 6 decades, but if you have not begun to obey Christ in making disciples, it is because you don't love Him (1 John2:4). It is not a stretch or twist of His word to reach that conclusion. It's right there in John's gospel. "If you love Me, you WILL keep my commands," Jesus says. Some will say that they are just quiet or shy, but God's word says that "perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). When our desperation factor exceeds our embarrassment factor, we will be effective for the kingdom of God (stole this quote from Greg DeVries, i think).
Another command Jesus gave was to love God and love others.
Matthew 22:36-40
And he said to him,“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
Living in the Bible Belt I frequently hear people talk about their racist tendencies. They will say they were "just raised that way," as though that were a valid excuse. God's word is clear that you cannot hate a person or people and love God simultaneously. It is not possible to live in opposition to God's commands and still love the God of those commands. In fact, Ezekiel lets us know that it goes even deeper than that. That it is not an effort on our part to change, but a resting in the Spirit of God to change us and cause obedience in us:
Ezekiel 36:26-27
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
The spirit of God causes us to obey after He does the work in our heart. The reason we can continue to hate or disobey is because we are not filled with the Spirit of God.
It is time we ask, even beg, the Holy Spirit to do a work in our hearts that would bring us to repentance and obedience. That we would begin to make disciples as we have been commanded. That we would share our faith because the love we have for Christ's work in us is so overwhelming that we have no other choice but to tell the world. That our hatred for others (races, LGBT, homeless, denominations, hypocrites, rich, poor, etc.) would cease because the AGAPE love of God is richly flowing through us.
If you are tired of being a spectator and not a player for the kingdom of God, please contact us, as we have some material and info on how you can get started today making a difference for Christ. Also, there will be an article on disciple-making coming soon on this blog, as it needs/deserves it's own page.
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