The Love Language of God

I have been leading a group from my church through Experiencing God. I first did this study in 1993 and God used it greatly in my life. Through the writing of Henry Blackaby I was exposed to God and his activity in my life in a fresh way. Now that I am going back through the study I am being hounded by the Holy Spirit as I read. Let me give you a for instance. Read this passage from John 14:

"Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.'"

Chew on that for awhile and once you think you are ready to digest read it again.

The deeper I grow in my faith the more I understand the significance and of my own sin. Processing that allows me to more clearly see and experience Christ and his forgiveness. In essence I have come to grips with the real condition of the human heart. In our culture today the basic humanistic philosophy being taught in academia, and through media influencers, is that humans are basically good. The reality is that we are not good. We are born with evil in our hearts and a nature that is saturated with sin. It is only through Christ that we are forgiven and can do anything at all that pleases God.

I said all that to say this. I want to become a man known for my obedience to God. When I say that I know some may offer push back. I have heard that I need to be known as a man of prayer, a man of faith, a man of the Bible. I am convinced that all of those come as a result of the love relationship I have with Christ. That is why the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. While we may want to take each of these and flesh out how to do each one (a worthwhile, but tedious exercise) we can sum it up by saying you will do well in all of them if obediance is the focus. It is not a matter of singing about loving God or talking about loving God, or even telling God that you love Him. It is about showing God by your actions how much you love Him. When I trusted Christ as a ten year old boy the Spirit of God came and made a home in me. How it must grieve the Spirit when his home engages in disobedience and sin even after 24 years.

Now as a father I am watching the result of my sin being passed to my daughter. While I did not teach her to to lie or to be disrespectful (in actuality I have tried to teach her not to) she still does things and says things that demonstrate her own selfish and sinful nature. Following a time of correction she usually turns to me and says"but daddy I love you." I find myself telling God something very similar. I can hear God almost saying to me "son, I know you do...so obey my commandments." When is the last time you considered the love language of God. Is it gifts? No, He owns it all anyway. Is it encouraging words? No, words ring hollow many times. God only has one love language...OBEDIENCE.

So how much do you love God or better stated how obedient are you??? Let me know what you think!