How to learn to love God? Wisdom of the Holy Fathers. He is love What does it mean to love God with all your heart
So, this means that in order to receive an eternal life, you need to diligently fulfill two main commandments: to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. But since the whole law consists of these two commandments, it is necessary to explain them so that we know well what love for God and neighbor consists of? So, with God’s help, let’s begin the explanation.
Loveљ Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, that is, with all your being, with all your strength, surrender yourself to God, devote yourself entirely to Him without any lack, do not divide yourself between God and the world; Do not live partly only for God and His law and partly for the world, for the multi-passionate flesh, for sin and the devil, but devote yourself entirely to God, be all of God, all holy, in your whole life. Following the example of the Holy One who called you(of God) and be holy in all your actions, says the holy Apostle Peter (1 Pet. 1:15).
Let us explain this commandment with examples. Suppose you are praying to God. If you love God with all your heart, then you will always pray to Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, you will never be absent-minded, lazy, careless, or cold in prayer; During prayer, you will not give room in your heart to any worldly cares and worries, you will put aside all worldly cares, you will cast all your sorrow on the Lord, for He cares for you, as the apostle says. Try to understand prayer, God’s service completely, in all its depth. If you love God with all your soul, then you will sincerely repent to God of your sins, you will bring Him deep repentance every day, for every day you sin a lot. You will repent, that is, condemn yourself for your sins with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind; you will expose yourself with all merciless severity, with all sincerity; You will bring a full confession to God, a sacrifice of a complete burnt offering of sins, so that not a single sin remains unrepentant or unmourned.
Thus, to love God with all your heart means to love His truth, His law with all your heart and all your strength, and to hate with all your heart all unrighteousness, all sin; with all your heart and with all your strength to fulfill the truth, to do good and with all your heart, with all your strength, to shun evil, that is, all sin, not to give room in your heart for any sin even for one minute, not for one moment, that is, not to agree to him, not to sympathize with him, not to put up with him, but constantly, eternally to be at enmity with sin, to fight with him and, thus, to be a brave and victorious warrior of Christ God.
Or let’s take another example: let’s assume that you are being persecuted for piety, for truth, for virtue; if you love God, then you will not for a moment deviate from piety, from truth, from virtue, even if this devotion to truth entails the loss of any benefits; since truth itself, or fidelity to God and His truth, is the greatest benefit for us, and God can reward fidelity to His truth a hundredfold both in this and in the next century. An example of this is Joseph the righteous, the son of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, and many righteous people in the New Testament. So, to love God with all your heart means to fight according to God, according to His truth with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind. Thus, according to God, according to His truth, the holy fathers and holy martyrs fought, especially in the fight against heresies and schisms. This is zeal for God. To love God with all your heart means to direct all people with all your might to God, to His love, to His praise, to His eternal kingdom, so that everyone would know Him, love Him, and glorify Him. This is also zeal for God!
Having explained the first commandment to the best of our ability, let us now explain the second: Love your neighbor as yourself. What does it mean to love your neighbor, that is, every person, as yourself? This means honoring another as you would like to be revered, not considering anyone a stranger, but your own, your brother, your member, and a Christian and a member of Christ; consider his good, his salvation as your good, your salvation; rejoice at his well-being as if it were your own, grieve over his misfortune as if it were your own; try to save him from trouble, adversity, poverty, sin, just as I would try to save myself. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, - says the apostle (Rom. 12:1) . We must bear the strengths of the weak, not please ourselves; May every one of you please your neighbor for the good of creation(Rom. 15, 1-2). Pray for each other so that you may be healed(James 5:16).
љTo love your neighbor as yourself means to respect him as yourself, if, however, he is worthy of it; not to think about him unworthily, basely, without a reason on his part, not to have any evil towards him; not to envy him, but always to be kind, to be condescending to his shortcomings, weaknesses, to cover his sins with love, as we wish for them to be condescending to our shortcomings. Bear with each other with love, - says the apostle (Eph. 4:2), - not repaying evil for evil, or annoyance for annoyance(1 Pet. 3:9). Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you(Matt. 5:44). If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him something to drink - says the Old Testament Scripture (Prov. 25, 22; Rom. 12, 20).
To love your neighbor as yourself means to pray for the living and the dead, relatives and non-relatives, acquaintances and strangers, for friends and enemies just as much as for yourself, and to wish them as much good, the salvation of the soul, as you do for yourself. This is what the Holy Church teaches in her daily prayers.
To love your neighbor as yourself also means to love everyone without partiality, regardless of whether he is poor or rich, good-looking or not, old or young, noble or simple, healthy or sick; useful to us or not, friend or enemy, because it is all the same God, all in the image of God, all are children of God, members of Christ (if Orthodox Christians), all our members, for we are all one body, one spirit(Eph. 4:4), there is one Head for all - Christ God. Let us understand this way and try to fulfill the two main commandments of the law of God - and we will inherit eternal life by the grace of Christ God. Amen.
22 / 11 / 2003
Love is long-suffering, merciful, love does not envy, love does not exalt itself, is not proud, does not act outrageously, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil,
He does not rejoice in untruth, but rejoices in the truth;
He covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything.
Love never fails... (1 Cor.13:4-8)
Answering this seemingly simple question is not so simple. Many Christians, speaking about love, try to derive a certain formula with which they could explain how to learn to love. If we summarize statements on this topic, we can highlight the following four principles:
1. God's love does not set conditions.
2. You are commanded to love: God, neighbors, enemies.
4. You can love others with the help of God Himself and His love.
But, however, something is missing here. An important aspect of Christian love has been missed. These four principles lack the fifth - decisive - principle, which, to the question “how to love God and people?” specifically answers: only by faith.
Love is the greatest good and the most powerful force available to man. Its rays, reflected in the life and preaching of the first Christians, illuminated the course of all human history and transformed the world beyond recognition. The Greeks, the Romans, the pagans, the Jews, they don’t see each other. The very thought of love and sacrifice was alien to their thinking. Seeing that Christians are of various nationalities, speaking different languages and adverbs - they show love, care and willingness to sacrifice themselves for mutual help, they exclaimed in surprise: “Look how these people love each other!”
Here is an incident told by one of the employees of the Christian Mission “ New life": "At one of the student conferences, I told the students that they have the power to change this world through love. As a practical application, I suggested that they make a list of those they disliked and decide to show them love by faith.
The next day a girl came up to me. Her face was flushed with excitement: “Yesterday evening changed my life.” For many years I felt nothing but hatred towards my parents. I didn’t see them for five years, because when I was seventeen, I quarreled with them and left home. They tried many times to persuade me to return, but to no avail: I did not answer their letters because I decided that I did not want to see them. I didn't see them.
The young girl sighed heavily.
“I was a prostitute and drug addict before I believed in Christ about six months ago,” she continued. - Yesterday you told me how to love my parents, and without waiting for the end of the meeting, I rushed to call them. Can you imagine? Now that I have experienced God's love pouring through me, I look forward to meeting my parents with joy."
Everyone wants to feel loved. Most psychologists come to a common opinion: what a person needs most is to love and be loved. Nothing can resist the powerful power of love.
The word “love” in Greek has three meanings: “eros”, implying the attraction of spouses in marriage - this word does not appear in the New Testament; “fi-leo”, from-but-sya-sche-e-sya to friendship and love between friends and family - that is, love, based on reciprocity; “Aga-ne” - the love of God: the purest and strongest, based not so much on feeling, but on a voluntary decision.
Agape- this is the supernatural, unconditional love of God, which found its highest manifestation in the death of the Lord on the cross for our sins. And He wants to pour out this same love through you - through His Holy Spirit - onto those around you. The uniqueness of such love is that its manifestation depends on the person he loves, and not on the qualities of the one he loves. Often this is love - “in spite of”, and not “because”.
Paul, under the inspiration of God, wrote a beautiful ode to love in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. He wrote that without love, everything that you do for God and others is of no use. Ponder these words: If I speak the languages of human beings and angelic, but love is not I have, then I am a ringing brass, or a sounding cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can move mountains - put, but I don’t have love, then I’m nothing. And if I give away all my property and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, there is no benefit to me.
In other words, if you serve God and help people not because you are driven by His love, there will be no benefit from your actions.
To understand how to love by faith, you need to know what the five fundamental aspects of love are.
1. God’s love has no conditions.
God loves you with exactly the same aha-ha love that is described in the 13th chapter of First Corinthians. His love for you is so great that He sent His Son to die for you on the cross so that you would have access to eternal life. His love does not depend on whether you are worthy of this love. It is not your deeds and actions that arouse love in Him, because Christ loves you so much that He decided to die for you when you were still sinners.
God loves you without setting conditions, so you cannot do anything to deserve it. . He loves you, despite your disobedience and egoism. He loves you so much that he can open the door to abundant eternal life for you. Even on the cross, Christ stood up for people: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
If God's love for sinners is so great, then you can imagine how much He loves you- Your son, who loves Christ and strives to be obedient to Him? God's unconditional love for His children is reflected in the parable of the prodigal son. The youngest son of one person asked his father to allocate the part of the inheritance due to him, packed his things and went to yes-that country, where I squandered my money in commotion and among prostitutes. As a result, he fell into extreme poverty and was very hungry. Then the thought occurred to him that his father’s work was, at least, that there was. And he decided: “I’ll go to my father and say: father! I’ve sinned against heaven and before you and I’m no longer “Call me your son; take me among yours.”
When he was still far from home, the father saw his son, and his heart was filled with love . He ran up to his son, hugged and kissed him. Most likely, he saw his son coming to him, because he had been praying for many days for his return and -for many hours he lived at the window, looking out for the way until his son could return. The father, without listening to the words of repentance, ordered the servants to kill the calf and get ready for the holiday. His son has returned to his father's house!
God's love was poured out on us even before we became Christians, but this parable reminds us that God never ceases to love His disobedient child. He looks forward to his return to the Christian family.
Pa-vel writes: “For this reason, even more so now, we will be given equal strength by His Blood, and we will be saved from wrath by Him.” For if, being enemies, we have reconciled with God through the death of His Son, then all the more, having reconciled , be saved by His life. God's love for us cannot be comprehended by reason. Jesus prayed:
- Let them all be united; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so may they also be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me... and ascend... loved them as he loved Me.
Stop for a minute and think!
God loves you no less than His one and only Son of God, Jesus. What a shaking, un-sti-living is-ti-na! You shouldn't be afraid of someone who loves you unconditionally. Do not be afraid to trust God in everything, for He truly loves you. And the most incredible thing about this is that He loves you, even when you are disobedient to Him. People are also capable of this kind of love when it comes to their own children.
Parents' love for their children usually does not depend on the children's behavior. Parents do not begin to love their children less simply because they behave badly and do not obey. Of course, to help their children not sin, loving parents must correct and discipline them. It’s the same in your relationship with God. When you show inconsistency, He corrects you and calls you out precisely because He loves you. From Hebrews we learn why the Lord sometimes disciplines His children:
- And for-would-be the consolation that is presented to you, as to our sons: “my son! for the sake of the Lord and do not be discouraged when He speaks to you. For the Lord, whom He loves, calls upon you. va-et... If you are patient, then God will deal with you as with his sons. For is there any son? , what would father not have called? -di-te-la-mi na-shi-mi, I was afraid of them, then shouldn’t we fight the Father of spirits more , so that we can live? They called us in our own way for a few days; participation in His holiness. then, through him, he delivers the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
The death of Christ on the cross once and for all atoned for the sins of man, therefore, God now does not condemn those who believe in Him, but corrects them, in order to help us grow and mature in spirit. -following pits and persecutions, went through difficult trials and unseen suffering.
And yet, Pavel wrote to them: “Who separates us from the love of God: sorrow, or hardship, or persecution, or persecution?” Lod, or na-go-ta, or danger, or sword? as in-pi-sa-but: “For You, they died for You all day long; they consider us as sheep, condemned to be slaughtered.” nie". But we overcome all this with the power of our Love. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Na-cha-la, nor Powers, nor the present, nor the future, nor you -so-that, neither the depth nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, the Lord Ours. This kind of love is beyond our understanding, but is accessible to our hearts.
2. You are commanded to love
One lawyer asked Jesus: “Teacher!” what's the biggest problem in the world?
Jesus said to him: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” I don’t care about yours: this is the first and greatest reason; the second one is dear to her: “I love your neighbor as you love yourself”; These two laws are based on all the law and pro-ro-ki.
Perhaps some of you, at an op-re-de-lent moment in your Christian life, stumbled over this commandment.
Maybe you too have wondered: how can I meet these exorbitantly high requirements? will I ever be able to love with such intensity?
Think about this
First, the Holy Spirit will fill your heart with God's love, as promised in Romans: he is not ashamed, because the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.
Secondly, turn your gaze to God, think about what He is like, how much He has done and continues to do for you. And you will develop a growing love for Him in your heart. We love Him because He first loved us. Why does God love you so much that He was willing to die for you?
Why did God choose you to be His son?
Why were you given the honor of being sent by Him, so that the world could benefit from His love and forgiveness? What gives you the right and privilege to truly walk in His presence? For what merits did He promise you to meet all your needs according to His riches in glory? How have you earned the right - how many millions of people who don't know our Savior - to wake up every morning? with joy in the heart and praise on the lips for His love and peace, which He so generously bestows on all who believe in His beloved Son. on - Lord Jesus?
Here is what one employee of the New Life Christian Mission, who was at the origins of its creation, said: “I proposed to my future wife soon after I believed in Christ. She was an active member of the church, although - as it turned out later - she was not a Christian at that time.
Can you imagine how she must have felt when I, with all the fervor of a convert, told her that I loved God more than her, and that He would always be my first priority? Unfortunately, I could not explain, and at that time I myself did not understand, that my love for her only increased as my love for God strengthened.
Over time, when we got married, she also experienced God’s love and forgiveness and became His daughter. Now the Lord takes first place in her heart. And since He takes first place for both of us, our love for each other only grows stronger and deeper. Although, due to the nature of my ministry, I have to travel all over the world and, therefore, often separate from my wife, we both draw joy and strength from Him. And when we manage to be together, our communication becomes a hundred times more precious, because we love Him, and He loves us.”
What a pity for those who have not yet learned to love God and put Him first in everything! After all, such people cannot obtain the blessings that await everyone who loves God with all their heart, all their soul and all their mind. Moreover, the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” will no longer seem such an impossible requirement if you sincerely love God with all your heart, soul and mind. Your relationship with God directly affects your relationships with people. Let's give an example. Billiard balls, rolling freely on the table, upon contact, repel each other due to their structure. But if you tie the balls with a rope and lift them right above the table, the balls will come together. So it is with us. If every single Christian clings to Christ and walks in the Spirit, loving Him with all his heart, soul and mind, then he will fulfill God’s command to love his neighbors as himself. Apo-table Pa-vel explains: - For-po-ve-di: “don’t pre-lu-bo-dey-st-vuy”, “don’t kill-wai”, “don’t steal” ", "don't lie-vide-de-tel-st-vuy", "don't lie to someone else" and all the others are included in this word: “I love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Love does no harm to one's neighbor; so love is the fulfillment of love.
It is love for God and for others that produces fruit, righteousness and glory to Christ in the life of a Christian. In addition, you are required to love your neighbors, because this love testifies about your family connections with the Father. By showing love for your neighbors, you thereby demonstrate your belonging to Christ. Apostle John says that if you do not love your neighbors, then do not love God, because God is love. Thus, he emphasizes the indirect connection between your salvation and how your love for your neighbors is manifested. John notes: “And whoever has a hundred in the world, but, seeing his brother in need, does something from his heart, how does the love of God abide in him? My children! Let us begin to love not in word or language, but in deed and truth. Jesus says: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” Bu-du-chi hri-sti-a-ni-nom, you must love your neighbor, because:
1. Your neighbor is God's creation, created in the image of God;
2. Because God loves your neighbor;
3. Because Christ died for your neighbor.
If you want to follow the example of our Lord, you must love everyone, as Christ did. You must dedicate your life to helping others experience His love and forgiveness.
Jesus said the same: “Did you hear what was said: “Love your neighbor and do not hate your enemy?” his". And I say to you: love your enemies, bless your words, bless your enemies. those who do not see you and pray for those who offend you and persecute you, so that you may be your Father's sons -go Ne-be-no-go; for He makes His sun rise above the evil and the good, and makes it rain on the righteous. nykh and un-righteous... And if you greet-st-vu-e-those only take-ev yours, which is especially-ben-no-go de-la-e- those? Don't pagans act the same way? When will Christs not begin to act like Christians and love God, their neighbors, their enemies and, especially, their brothers in Christ - not for -vi-si-mo nationality, race and social affiliation - we will witness a qualitative transformation of the entire society. The love of Christians will shock and surprise people, as it did in the first century, when people, observing Christ, exclaimed in surprise: “Look how these people they love each other!” There are many people around who, for one reason or another, are disappointed in themselves. Some people are burdened with the burden of unconfessed sins. Others are not able to come to terms with their fi-zi-che-ski-mi not-to-stat-ka-mi. Someone feels rejected. There is only one piece of advice I can give here. God loves you and accepts you just the way you are. And you do the same. Look away from yourself. Direct your love and attention to Christ and to your neighbors. Try to get rid of your commodities by serving Him and the people around you. God's love is strong, ob-e-di-nya-yu-shchaya chri-sti-an! Pa-vel calls to “fall into love, which heaven is the co-pur-ple-ness of so-ver-shen-st-va”, “so that you may be comforted” hearts, co-e-di-nen-nye in love.”
Only God's love can overcome the heavy barriers created by human beings -I-mi. Only unity in Christ - the source of love - can ease tension, destroy mis-trust, help to reform please, to revive all the best in people and help them to serve Christ more fruitfully and creatively.
A mother of four once shared that understanding how to love by faith allowed her to be more patient with her husband and children. there. “The kids just drove me crazy,” she said. “I got irritated over trifles, found fault with my husband and was always dissatisfied with everything. I felt miserable. It is not surprising that the husband found various excuses to stay longer at work. But now everything has changed. Since I learned to love by faith, God's love entered our home and transformed everything beyond recognition.
This is what one young man happily noted: “Having learned to love by faith, my wife and I fell in love with each other again, and working in the office for the first time in many years began to bring me pleasure - now I am happy I work with those whom I couldn’t stand before.
3. You yourself are not capable of loving others the way God wants you to. You are unable to love others the way God wants you to, just as “carnal” people cannot please God. With your own strength you cannot manifest yeah-no- unconditional love for other people. How many times have you decided to love someone? Have you ever tried to show sincere love towards someone you deeply care about? Maybe, at the very least, you were able to squeeze something out of yourself, but how long did it last? Man does not have the strength to love others the way God wants him to. People do not tend to show patience and kindness. We re-vni-you, for-vi-st-li-you and praise-st-li-you. We are proud, arrogant, egotistical and rude. We know how to act and there is no need to teach us!
We are simply unable to love others the way God loves us. This thought was put into poetic form by the Russian poet D. S. Merezhkovsky:
And I want, but I am not able to love people;
I am a stranger among them; friends are closer to my heart
Stars, sky, cold, blue distance
And the forests and the desert are silent sadness......
Meanwhile, I can’t live with the wave or the wind,
And I'm scared of not loving anyone for the rest of my life.
Is my heart dead forever?
Give me strength, Lord, to love my brothers!
4. You can love others with the help of God and His love.
It was God's love that led you to Christ. It is His love that sustains you and gives you strength every day. It is His love, abiding in you, that helps to bring people to Christ and serve the brethren according to faith, as God wills. the battle of power manifested itself in the life of Jesus Christ. In His unique birth, teaching, life, death and Re-creation we see a complete, complete manifestation -love of God's love. Who has access to such love? Everyone who came to God the Father through faith in God the Son through God the Holy Spirit.
In the Scripture it is said: - The love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, given to us. God is Spirit, and “The fruit of the spirit is love...” When you are under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you can love others with the love of God Himself.
When Christ enters your life and you become a Christ, God gives you everything you need so that you can change. You have gained access to a new love that people are incapable of. But how can you show this love in your life? How to truly love? Having decided to love? By force of will? Trying your best? No. There is only one way to show this kind of love, and it will be discussed in the next section.
5. You love faith
In Christian life everything is based on faith. You love by faith, just as you accepted Christ by faith, just as you are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith and live by faith.. The Bible Answers Our Many Questions
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
(Luke 10:27).
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love in him.
(1 John 2:15).
The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.
(Rom 5, 5).
Love is born from dispassion; dispassion from trusting in God; hope from patience and generosity; these latter from abstinence in everything, abstinence from the fear of God, fear from faith in the Lord.
You cannot take spiritual life from above, but you need to take it from below: first cleanse your soul of passions, acquire patience, humility, etc., then love your neighbor, and then God.
Faith is a benevolent gift; it gives birth to the fear of God in us; the fear of God teaches the observance of the commandments or the organization of a good active life; from active life grows honest dispassion; and the product of dispassion is love, which is the fulfillment of all the commandments, connecting and holding them all within itself.
Having received the commandment to love God, we also received the power to love, invested in us at creation.
Love for God is born without teaching, naturally, as gratitude for God’s blessings, for we see that dogs, oxen, and donkeys love those who feed them.
Increasing the fear of God is the beginning of love.
No one can love God with all his heart without first warming the fear of God in his heart; for the soul comes into active love after it has already been cleansed and softened by the action of the fear of God.
Love is the fruit of prayer.
Love for God is born from conversation with him. Conversation with him from silence; silence from non-covetousness; non-covetousness from patience; patience from hating lusts; hatred of lusts from fear of Gehenna and aspirations of bliss.
He who says that he has not conquered passions, but loves to love God, I don’t know what he is saying. You will object: I did not say love, but I love to love. And this does not take place if the soul has not achieved purity.
There is no other path to spiritual love, by which the invisible image of God is inscribed in us, unless first of all a person begins to show mercy in the likeness of the Heavenly Father, who showed us His perfection in mercy.
He who is always in prayer is kindled with the most ardent love for God and receives the grace of the Spirit, which sanctifies the soul.
When we hear that someone loves us, even if he were humble and poor, we are inflamed with special love for him and show him great respect, then we love him; and our Lord loves us so much, and we remain insensitive?
Those who frequently partake of the Body and Blood of our Lord will naturally kindle in themselves a desire and love for Him on the one hand, because these animal and life-giving Body and Blood warm those who partake (even the most worthless and hard-hearted) in love so much as they continually take communion; and on the other hand, because the knowledge of love for God is not something alien to us, but is naturally infused into our hearts as soon as we are born in the flesh and reborn in the spirit in holy Baptism.
St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain (1749-1809) and St. Macarius of Corinth (1731-1805).
The feeling of love for the Lord comes as we fulfill His commandments.
Some, having read in the Holy Scriptures that love is the most sublime of the virtues, that it is God, immediately begin and intensify to develop a feeling of love in their hearts, to dissolve their prayers, thoughts of God, and all their actions.
God turns away from this unclean sacrifice. He demands love from a person, but true, spiritual, holy love, and not dreamy, carnal love, defiled by pride and voluptuousness. It is impossible to love God otherwise than with a heart purified and sanctified by Divine Grace.
The premature desire to develop in oneself a feeling of love for God is already self-delusion. It immediately removes one from correct service to God, immediately leads into various errors, and ends in damage and death of the soul.
Repentance for a sinful life, sadness about voluntary and involuntary sins, the struggle against sinful habits, the effort to defeat them and sadness about their forced defeat, forcing ourselves to fulfill all the Gospel commandments is our lot. We must ask God for forgiveness, reconcile with Him, make amends for infidelity with faithfulness to Him, and replace friendship with sin with hatred of sin. Those who are reconciled are characterized by holy love.
Do you want to learn the love of God? Avoid every deed, word, thought, feeling prohibited by the Gospel. By your hostility to sin, so hateful to the all-holy God, show and prove your love for God. Heal sins into which you happen to fall due to weakness with immediate repentance.
But it is better to try not to allow these sins to happen to you by being strictly vigilant over yourself.
Do you want to learn the love of God? Carefully study the commandments of the Lord in the Gospel and try to turn the Gospel virtues into skills, into your qualities. It is characteristic of a lover to carry out the will of his beloved with precision.
To love God with all your heart, you must certainly consider everything earthly as rubbish and not be deceived by anything.
Remember that you always walk in the presence of the sweetest Jesus. Tell yourself more often: I want to live in such a way that my life pleases my Love, crucified on the cross for me.
Experience has proven that one who does not love his neighbor cannot love God, and one who is ungrateful to people cannot be grateful to God. A limited, small, insignificant being, such as a person, needs to begin with a limited, small one and, with God's help, to go to the less limited, to the higher. Do you have a wife, friends, relatives? Learn to first give them their due and then you will be able to give due to all people and to God Himself.
In order to properly honor the Mother of God, learn first how to honor your mother. And in order to honor you as you should, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, learn to honor your father according to the flesh. He who is unfaithful in small ways and in many ways is unfaithful; and he who is faithful is faithful in little and in many ways(Luke 16:10).
Love for God is a concept that needs to be studied in the Bible. Since ancient times, humanity has been discovering the secrets of Holy Scripture, finding more and more new truths. This article will analyze the concept of relationship to God and give examples from real life.
Revealing the concept of love
Love is the most sublime and precious word that can be found in human language. It conveys our relationships to concepts such as things, persons and ideas. “I love” we can talk about paintings and apartments, cats and delicious food, music and cars.
Nowadays, one word “love” conveys a whole bunch of meanings. But this is not accepted in all languages. For example, among the Greeks, one of the variants of this word is “eros” - the transfer of the concept of carnal love.
The word “philia” characterizes manifestations of spiritual attraction, characterized by sincerity, purity and devotion.
The third meaning is “agapi” - as an expression of the highest degree of affection, the spiritual manifestation of this feeling, holy love for the Creator.
As stated in the Word of God, man has a threefold nature - body, soul and spirit. Manifestations of love are carnal, mental and spiritual feelings. Consequently, the ancient Greeks divided the concept optimally between three words.
To reveal the concept of love for God, it is important to know the words from the Bible that belong to John.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself.
This wonderful saying can briefly describe what the power of love for God should be - no less than for oneself. It is these two commandments that are destined to be fundamental.
Special love
Moreover, it is important to remember the peculiarities of relationships with the Lord. It should not turn into idol worship. Love for God allows us to ennoble, guide and warm our soul. Despite the simplicity of the commandment of Love for the Almighty, this feeling must be multifaceted. To comprehend this science, you need to understand a lot in order to achieve perfection.
Then the soul will be filled with this feeling, which will lead to a transformation of the being, illumination of thoughts, warming of the heart, direction of the will. The Almighty must become so familiar that he becomes the meaning of human life.
Examples of love
What it means to love God can be learned from the example of the saying. He compares this feeling with a large circle, the center of which is the Creator. People will be points along the radius of this circle. Then you can trace the relationship between love for the Creator and your neighbors. As the radius points approach the center, they become closer to each other. Getting closer to God at the same time means getting closer to people. Despite the inaccessibility of God's dwelling place to ordinary people, his presence should be felt by each of us. It is important for us to have God in our souls.
Another specific example would be the feeling when we miss loved ones if we are forced to be far away from them. Therefore, every time you find an opportunity to talk with the Almighty, you must joyfully use it. For a person who loves God to communicate with his creator, it is not necessary to create special conditions or go to church. This can be done while working or relaxing, at home or on the road. When visiting church, the power of such conversion increases. Since the Bible states that if two and more than a person gathered to pray, the Almighty will be there. With constant turning to God, a person turns into a living temple and receives a special relationship from the Creator.
Good deeds
Examples of love for God can also be a situation when we do not want to upset the people we love. Therefore, we try to do everything to please them. So it is with the Lord - one must experience fear, reverence and love for him. Sinful actions and thoughts, non-observance of the commandments are those deeds that can offend the Creator.
We can also put the happiness of the people we love above our own benefits. Likewise, for the glory of God, it is important to act and think in such a way as not to upset the Creator. Then people will be able to enjoy the Kingdom of Good.
Features of relationships with neighbors
The sermon on love for God and neighbor contains tips that will help you be closer to the Creator. In order to show love for the Lord, you must:
- Be modest and friendly, quiet and peaceful. This advice was given by St. Seraphim of Sarov.
- In relationships between people there must be trust and a desire to do good for them.
- Demonstration of one's superiority in front of others is not encouraged.
- A compliant attitude towards people makes a person closer to the Creator.
- The shortcomings of your neighbor should not be criticized or emphasized.
- Purity of thoughts regarding other people is important.
- Patiently enduring grievances without showing your true feelings will help show love for the Creator.
- As does praying for other people, and supporting those who are grieving with kind words.
- Openly and calmly expressing complaints to people without the desire to offend them.
- Providing assistance delicately so that it does not look like a favor.
If you analyze the listed points, you can come to the conclusion that there are no difficulties in their implementation. It is enough to stock up on a good mood and desire.
It is also important to remember that doing small acts of virtue is much more beneficial than large acts that can only make things worse. This advice is also found in the Bible.
Relationship between God and man
God's love descends from heaven to earth. Human love rushes from earth to heaven.
This is stated in the Holy Scriptures. God is called love, Christ embodies this love, the mission of the Holy Spirit is to demonstrate the power of love, the Church’s purpose is to be the cradle, temple, treasury and guardian of love.
The Gospel speaks about God's Love. A person must firmly believe that God is love. And that the Creator loves each of us. He created Man as an exact copy of himself, while showing love for his creation. Therefore, God expected him to have someone to communicate with. He did just that, communicating with Adam in the Garden of Eden. This was the case until the moment of the Fall, when Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Since then, God no longer communicates directly with people.
Favorites
But in each generation there were chosen people who could see and hear the Creator. They are called righteous. Through them, other believers can learn the truths of God.
The highest degree of manifestation of God's love for man was sacrifice, when the Lord gave his son for us. By the example of the death of Jesus, he showed that all Christians have a chance for Sunday. How can a person show his love for the Creator? There are ancient prayers to understand this feeling.
O my loving heavenly Father! Teach me to love You with all my heart, so that love for You and for nothing temporary fills my heart.
Teach me, God, to love You with all my will. Kill all self-will in me. Help me to always do only what You please and what You desire.
Teach me to love You with all my soul, to fight and mortify unkind feelings, my own appetites, bad habits and attachments.
Teach me to love You with all my mind, rejecting any other mind, other judgments and understandings that have nothing in common with Your Divine mind and revelation.
Teach me to love You with all my strength, help me to strain and concentrate all my energy only in order to love the way You would want me to love You.
O God of Love! Light up your unquenchable fire in me, forever loving love Christ, that I may be what You would have me to be and do what You would have me do.
O eternal, Love! If only people would know You and understand Your love! If only they could understand how worthy You are of our absolute love! How wonderful You are to everyone who already loves You, how strong You are to everyone who trusts in You, how inexpressibly sweet You are to all those who enjoy continuous communication with You; for You are the abyss of all treasures and the ocean of all blessings!
Believe in the great power of Love! Believe sacredly in Her conquering cross, In Her radiantly shining light. A world mired in dirt and blood! - Believe in the great Power of Love!
Ways to show love for God
There are many of them. The Bible says, “Love God with all your heart.” How can you show your feelings to the Creator? To manifest and prove his relationship to the Creator, a person would like to see an object of love. It is quite difficult to convey your feelings to someone who is hidden from our eyes. It is also difficult to determine how real our feelings for God are.
It is believed that in order to convey love for the Creator, observing the Commandments is enough. This is enough, but how difficult it is to follow such requirements. The Bible indicates that it is knowledge of the commandments that influences the manifestation of one’s attitude towards the Lord. Accordingly, if one of the people does not try to keep the commandments, he is far from being able to love the Creator. Jesus says this too.
Not a word, but a deed
As you know, love can only be judged by actions, but not by words. If this feeling is not supported by actions, then it will not be appreciated and accepted. Love without actions is like this: a hungry person is not offered food, but its image on paper. Or a person without clothes is given not vestments, but the promises of these vestments.
The need to prove your love for the Almighty through your actions is also hidden in the words of John the Theologian. He calls Christians to love their neighbors not with words and tongue, but with deeds and truth. To prove this love one must sacrifice. For real to a loving person I can even lose my life if the need arises. An example of such a sacrifice is the behavior of the holy martyrs. They were able not to spare their own lives, just to show loyalty to the Lord. The righteous expressed such feelings through exploits and deeds, showing that they trusted only in the Creator and believed only in him.
To daily confirm your feelings for the Creator, it is enough to try not to commit sins, follow the commandments of the Lord, strive to pacify the flesh and protect it from passions and lust. This will be the best proof of devotion to the Almighty. If a person does not want to follow the commandments, he proves with every act displeasing to God that he is ready to crucify Christ, as non-believing people did.
So, through donation and obedience, keeping the commandments, one can confirm that a person loves God and the Son of God. This is what it says in the saying of Basil the Great.
Some people may find it difficult to keep the Lord's commandments. But it is important to remember that if a person does a godly deed, it becomes simple for him. In the words of the holy Apostle John the Theologian, it is said that keeping the commandments is a successful way to show the Creator your feelings. Moreover, these laws are simple, and it is not difficult to follow them if a person truly believes and loves.
The highest expression of love
How, besides keeping the commandments, can one say: “I love you, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God?” There are more difficult path, but not everyone can do it. Martyrdom is the highest degree of love for God. There are known people who sacrificed themselves in the name of this love. They are canonized and considered the chosen ones.
If a person is able to truly love the Lord, he is able to know the joys of Heaven on Earth.
True love
One of the holy martyrs was the Monk Macrona. This girl believed in the Creator with all her soul. When the king wanted to take possession of her by force, she was not afraid to refuse him, entrusting herself to the Lord. She said: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, I’d rather go to the bottom of the sea, but not break your commandments!” The ruler who heard this cut off the girl’s head and drowned her in the sea. But Macron’s sacrifice did not go unnoticed. The girl was canonized as a holy martyr. Now her feat is an example of true faith in the Lord.
Let's sum it up
"God is love". That's what the Bible says. This great feeling is capable of performing real miracles. If a person strives to show his love, he is ready to sacrifice everything he has.
How should people love their Creator? The answer to this question will also be the text of the Bible. It says that people should love the Creator as much as they love themselves. Just as it is easy for a lover to perform actions in the name of the object of adoration, so it will be easy for people to follow the observance of the commandments indicated in the Bible. Those who will violate the laws of Holy Scripture are like the people who crucified Jesus. In order not to crucify the Son of God within oneself, one must try to be faithful to his commandments. Then the bliss of the Earthly Paradise will be revealed to man.
The highest degree of manifestation of love for the creator is the ability to sacrifice life for him. Such people are counted among the Saints, calling them martyrs.
All the truths about the relationship between man and the Creator are contained in the Book of Books - the Bible. Studying its secrets is an activity that will bring valuable fruits of reason and wisdom. People must communicate with the Creator, since he created them like himself. The Lord is open to conversation with man. Having shown an example of the highest love when he gave his son for people, the Creator expects us to observe simple biblical commandments, which not everyone manages to fulfill. In this way, believers demonstrate their love for God by daily confirming it with good deeds.
