This is my first attempt at blogging, so bear with me. Just wanted to share some thoughts I had this morning while getting ready:
I was thinking about God and my relationship with Him. I became kind of intrigued that God would command me to love Him (Luke 10:27). The reason this intrigued me is that it seems a little ridiculous from a purely human standpoint. What father actually commands his child to love him? It seems like the command itself would nulify the love because from our perspective love is not forced but is from a willing heart. Still, the command is there, and according to Jesus it's the greatest commandment of all. So I thought, maybe the command to love God has more to do with God Himself than it has to do with me, or my ability, or my want to. Maybe Biblical commands have to do with worthiness, and maybe the command to love God has little to do with my ability or desire to do so and has more to do with His worthiness of my love. Maybe I'm commanded to love God simply because He is Good.
But then I thought, how does this translate into my everyday life? What about the times that I don't have a desire to love God, but I know I am still commanded to do so? Then it hit me that maybe this progress is exactly what we are longing for in our walk with Christ. Probably for many or most of us the beginning of our understanding of our relationship with God was rooted in duty. We wanted to know the do's and dont's of Christianity. But as we grow, we begin to seek God for another reason. Our motivation for coming to God is no longer duty. Instead, we begin to come to God out of delight or joy. So maybe our growing in the faith (Sanctification) is when we more and more come to God out of a sense of delight rather than "ought to." We come to our Father not merely because He has commanded us to do so, but also because we long for Him.