How to Love God by Being Yourself
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
1 John 3:18
God wants us to bear good spiritual fruit in our lives. How do we do this? By allowing Him to live through us and by simply being ourselves as His children! It’s a symbiotic relationship! It’s not “all of God and none of you”–it’s both! You are not a hollow tube, you are a person!
When you first believed that Jesus forgave you, your old, sinful spirit died, then you were buried with Christ in the supernatural realm, then you were raised back to life as a new, perfect spirit! That new spirit was then placed inside of Christ’s Spirit for good! (See Romans 6:3,6-7, Colossians 3:3, Galatians 2:20).
This happened instantaneously whether you felt anything or not. Salvation is not a feeling, it’s a fact. Salvation is not behavior change, it’s your spirit dying and coming back to life as a new, perfect spirit, while still in this physical body (see 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:4-8). Christians are not people who have cleaned up their lives, they are people who have been given a new life because they’ve been given a new spirit which is joined with God!
Right living is organic once we have new spirits, that’s why choosing to sin never feels right permanently. We are spiritually spotless and sin cannot enter us any longer (see Ephesians 1:13). So acting on sin is like putting our heads under water and breathing in–it’s not normal. For unbelievers? Yes, it’s very normal. But not for saints, not for children of God, and that is what we are! (See 1 Corinthians 1:2, 2 Corinthians 1:1, 1 John 3:1).
Believe it or not, as a Christian, you actually want what God wants. Because of bad teaching, this might sound crazy, but you even think like God (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). However, besides being God’s children and having the same mindset as Christ, the main reason why we start to do anything for Him or stop doing certain things, is because we love Him.
Everything we do as holy people should be in the drop-down menu of “Our Love For God.” We make major and minor changes in our lives because His Spirit is leading us into the truth of who we are. But if you think about it, every strong relationship is built on both parties starting or stopping an action or attitude because of their deep love for the other individual. The Father showed His love to us by giving us Jesus (see John 3:16, Romans 5:8), and Jesus showed His love to us by going to the Cross (see John 15:13). So now we must have action in our love for God as well! (See 1 John 3:18).
To be clear, no amount of life change will alter God’s love for us–increasing it nor decreasing it. Neither will what we do or don’t do modify our identity as heaven-ready people (see Ephesians 2:8-9). However, authentic love for others is always backed up by action. As new spiritual creations, God has placed His love in us permanently. This love is for Him, for others, and for ourselves–it’s inherent and will never go away. Therefore, without action of this love it is being muffled and unnaturally paper-thin, conditional, and fair-weather. When we are idle, our love is flaky and we can feel it. So until we begin to act on the love of God inside of us a disturbance in our soul will continue. We must get busy working out this love, gracefully. We’ve been remade for it!
You cannot wear out the grace of God but He still longs for you to reciprocate His love by way of expressing your true self. He’s never disappointed, no matter what you do or don’t do. Remember, all of your disappointments to God are called sins, and all of your sins were taken care of at the Cross!
So today, my friends, know this: When you simply be yourself as God’s child, as a new creation in Christ, you’ll show Him that you love Him! Love is a verb! It’s something that you do! You are a loving person! Love is written on your heart! So wake up each day and be your true self! That is, if you believe Jesus has forgiven you. If not, believe this truth today and receive the love of God.
A prayer for you: Heavenly Father, today I want to thank you for your unconditional love. I want to express that same love authentically. Continue to live through me and show me how! Right now, I lift up all who are reading this, directly to you. Dad, begin to give them the graceful knowledge of your love as they go deeper into your truth! Reveal the fact that they have the same love inside of them because they first believed! Open up their minds to the love that is already in their hearts, and help them to live it out in action! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
This devotional is from 60 Days for Jesus, Volume 2. Get your copy here!