“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” —Matthew 22:37
When it comes to loving God, we tend to be “paid” lovers. We love God as long as He’s sticking the things we want in our grubby, grasping hands: pleasures, trinkets, baubles, happiness, good experiences, happy families, etc. As long as everything is working, God is giving us what we want, and nothing is hard, stressful, or stretching, then oh, we love Him.
But then God begins to pry open our fingers and take some of those things from us. We start to bawl and squall, and our hearts are all of a sudden disquieted and troubled. It’s then that we prove we were loving God for His gifts rather than for Himself.
Why would God take those things away from us? Because God knows He is greater and far richer a gift than anything else He could give us. He wants us to love Him for who He is and to find comfort in Him rather than in all His external benefits.
Make it Personal
Confess to God those times when you’ve loved Him for only what He provides. Ask Him to help you love Him for who He is.