What Does Loving God Look Like?

Many of us will have probably heard the bible verse “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. God tells us that it is actually the greatest commandment of all. But what does loving God with everything really mean and why is it so important?

In Proverbs 4:23 it says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” When we allow other things to capture our heart, that aren’t from God, it slowly but surely steers our lives away from Him too.

If you’ve ever been on a ferry or a boat journey you might know that feeling all too well of sea sickness slowly creeping up on you. Last year I went on a ferry and after being offered sea sickness tablets I confidently declined. I’d been on loads of boats and besides, from what I could see, the sea looked like a pond anyway, there was no way I could possibly feel sick.

It was about an hour into the journey and the boat was rocking from side to side, the waves were crashing and all the children were in tears. Fully grown men were running to the side of the boat to throw up and the crew were running around with sick bags. I was trying my best to not admit that I was feeling a bit ropey when I turned around to see the chaos ensuing behind me. A woman sat right next to me vomited into a bag as I looked her straight in the eyes and the colour drained out of my face. I was sea sick.

After admitting it to my friend, she got the attention of one of the crew and he took me to the lower deck where the boat rocked less and told me to just fix my eyes on the horizon and take deep breaths. Steadily I began to regain my composure.

I think this is why God puts sooo much importance on us loving Him first with everything we have. He knows that as humans we are so easily distracted by what is going on around us and that as soon as we move our eyes away from Him our whole lives so easily follow in that direction. A bit like when I took my eyes off the horizon and focused on what was going on around me and my stomach soon followed!

When our hearts are so full of loving God and our attention is fully focused on Him, the waves of life seem much more manageable, it’s less easy to get distracted by the people around us and we are then full of His love to share with others.

Maybe we can start this February by giving our hearts a prune. I don’t know about you but when I search my heart there always seems to be other things that have creeped in and are trying to steal my attention away from God.

Maybe it’s anxiety about the pandemic, maybe it’s a boy you fancy that you just know isn’t right for you, maybe it’s a job or school work that has just taken over your thoughts. Whatever it is, let’s make this month of love the month where we do a deep clean and reset our hearts on the one who loves us the most.