John 14:15 – – “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  NASB

Jesus gave us a straightforward method of knowing whether we love God, as depicted in the verse above.  Do we keep His commandments?   If the answer is yes, then we may love Him.  If the answer is no, we can safely say we do not.  There is much more in scripture regarding knowing that we love God and evidence that we do.

We find in 1 John 3:16-24 – “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.  23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”   

In 2 John 6 – “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” NIV

If we do not walk in and exhibit love, then how can we say that we love God?  Jesus went even further and declared in 1 John 4:20 – “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

We all know that some people are easier to love than others, but the commandment is not to love selectively but to love!  God loves us unconditionally, and we are to love as God loves.  That is not meant to be easy but is possible through the work of Christ in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

I have told people for a long time that love is not only an emotion. It is a choice!  We are too often enamored with William Shakespeare’s popularization of “Romantic Love” and gotten away from the biblical depiction of “Love by Choice.”  God chose to love us; He did not “fall in love with us.”  We “grow” into love. It is not a mud puddle that we fall into.  As we get to know someone, we become more and more attracted to them, and we “grow into love.” 

Love should be stronger after 50 years of marriage than in the honeymoon stage.   The more I know God, the more I love God, and the more I love God, the more I want to know God and please God, and it is the same with us among men.  It is time that we as believers strive to exhibit the true evidence that we Love God by Loving!

May God be with you as you go through your day!