Love, for God

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Scripture teaches believers to love God and shows how such love should be expressed in worship and practical service.

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Psalm 65:1–4 ESV
1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. 2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. 3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. 4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

Believers’ response to God’s love

1 John 4:19 ESV
19 We love because he first loved us.
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Deuteronomy 7:7–8 ESV
7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Psalm 116:1 ESV
1 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
John 15:16 ESV
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
1 John 4:10 ESV
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Love for God is commanded

Matthew 22:37–38 ESV
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
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Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Deuteronomy 10:12 ESV
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deuteronomy 11:1 ESV
1 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.
Joshua 22:5 ESV
5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Joshua 23:11 ESV
11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.
Psalm 31:23 ESV
23 Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

Loving God involves loving Jesus Christ

John 8:42 ESV
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
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John 5:42 ESV
42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
John 15:23 ESV
23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

Expressing love for God

Delight in worship and in God’s house

Psalm 27:4 ESV
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
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Psalm 26:8 ESV
8 O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.
Psalm 43:4 ESV
4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Psalm 65:4 ESV
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
Psalm 84:2 ESV
2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Psalm 122:1 ESV
1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Psalm 122:6 ESV
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you!
Acts 2:46–47 ESV
46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Love for God’s word

Psalm 119:97 ESV
97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
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Psalm 1:2 ESV
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 19:7–8 ESV
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
Psalm 19:10 ESV
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Psalm 119:16 ESV
16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
Psalm 119:35 ESV
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
Psalm 119:72 ESV
72 The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Psalm 119:163 ESV
163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
Jeremiah 15:16 ESV
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
Ezekiel 3:3 ESV
3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

Self-sacrifice

Luke 14:33 ESV
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
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John 21:15–17 ESV
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Romans 12:1 ESV
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Philippians 3:8 ESV
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Giving

1 Chronicles 29:3 ESV
3 Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God:
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Exodus 25:2 ESV
2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.
Exodus 35:5 ESV
5 Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze;
1 Chronicles 29:6 ESV
6 Then the leaders of fathers’ houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officers over the king’s work.
1 Chronicles 29:9 ESV
9 Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.
2 Corinthians 8:4–5 ESV
4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
2 Corinthians 8:8 ESV
8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.
2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV
7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Obeying God

1 John 5:3 ESV
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
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Psalm 40:8 ESV
8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
John 14:15 ESV
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:23 ESV
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 15:14 ESV
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
2 John 6 ESV
6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Loving others

1 John 4:21 ESV
21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
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John 13:35 ESV
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:12 ESV
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
1 John 4:11 ESV
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

The blessings of loving God

John 14:15–16 ESV
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
See also ; ;
John 14:23 ESV
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 16:27 ESV
27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
1 Peter 1:8 ESV
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

Examples of love for God and Jesus Christ

Psalm 18:1 ESV
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
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Psalm 73:25 ESV
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Matthew 26:7 ESV
7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.
John 12:3 ESV
3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Luke 2:37 ESV
37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
Luke 7:47 ESV
47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
Luke 24:53 ESV
53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
John 11:16 ESV
16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
John 21:16 ESV
16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
Acts 21:13 ESV
13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Hebrews 6:10 ESV
10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
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