The Love Principle - Study 3: Who to Love: God

Exodus 20:1-2 NIV 

[1] And God spoke all these words: [2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.1-2.NIV)

My wife recently renewed her UK passport. She was a little nervous about it. We have plans of places we could visit. She couldn’t do them without a passport. She was relieved when it came through the post less than two weeks after she had applied. 

Passports are essential documents. They prove who you are to someone who had no possibility of knowing you. 

That aren’t, however, all-powerful. Even a British passport will not get you everywhere you want. There are still some countries that ask for visas – and are quite entitled to do so. 

If countries have the right to decide who they allow in, then surely you have the right to decide who you let into your heart? 

Countries normally decide based on your identity: your nationality, immigration history, income, job, accommodation, the amount of money you have available while travelling through, what you plan to do while you’re there... many other criteria. 

So how do you decide who to let into your heart? 

Jesus told us that we are to love the Lord our God: not any god, but one God in particular.

These verses are this God declaring His identity, right at the start of a very important piece of Scripture: the Ten Commandments. God is also declaring His capability: proving His power and His nature. He is also declaring His history: what He has already done for the people of Israel. 

But there is a lot more to it than just that. God is telling the Israelites not just why they should love Him, but why they should listen to Him: why He is the ultimate authority they should heed. 

Now, maybe you might think this is a strange place to start to talk about God’s love. After all, we do not usually equate love with telling us what we can’t do. Our twenty-first century brains equate love with liberty, with being told that we are free to do what we want. 

But there are some situations where this is completely wrong. 

Let me give you an example. 

There is a nice woodland path close to where I live. During the Covid lockdown, it was the furthest we could go from our home for the longest time. It became our refuge: the place we would go to for a change of scenery and to clear our heads. 

However, the path is a natural one, and in some parts, quite narrow. 

There is also a shortcut to a nearby park with a stately home in the middle. It’s pretty scenic.

This path is a more adventurous way to get there, but for much of the year, the steep embankment makes it impassable. 

We have friends who would like to try that shortcut.  

Now, here is my question: if I tell them not to go there during the rainy months of the year because it’s dangerous, is that a loving thing to do? Or should I respect their freedom and their right to choose, and let them be exposed to a situation I know will be dangerous? 

By choosing the Israelites, seeking a covenant with them and setting the rules by which they should live, God was showing His love for them (Deuteronomy 10:14-15). It is also the loving thing to do to provide these rules to prevent the Israelites from ruining their lives and causing pain to themselves and to the people around them. 

The upshot of this is that the Ten Commandments is an act of love by God for the Israelites. It is also the way in which the Israelites should reflect God’s love back to Him, and refract it out to the people around them. 

And the same goes for us. 

But why did God state who He is so clearly right at the start? What did He do here? 

This is actually something that happened a lot in the Middle East at the time, in contracts, or covenants, between people, particularly powerful people. God was essentially stating who He was and telling the Israelites to agree to their side of the contract. 

Which might not seem like a loving thing to do, until you remember that both marriages and civil partnerships are, in essence, contracts. 

What we have here, then, is God stating His identity and His right to give the Israelites commands that would keep them safe and out of harm.  

We’ll examine six aspects of who God is that can all be found in the law and the history of God’s people which show precisely why it is that we, thousands of years later, still should love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and therefore obey Him.

We see, firstly, that He is The God Who Is. 

The God Who Is 

Exodus 20:1-2 NIV 

[1] And God spoke all these words: [2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.1-2.NIV)

I have a very interesting situation.  I work for a company. They have an office I can reach in just under an hour. I have a security pass. But I can’t enter the building? 

Why? 

Because I work from home. For me to enter the building, I have to contact company security and let them know I’m coming. They then activate my pass and let me in. 

But my contract states that I can’t actually even commute to the office to do regular work. I can only go for meetings. I have to have a valid reason to be there. 

My pass is more than five years old. It has existed for as long as I have been in the company. But right now, it’s useless. 

Some people worship gods who are a bit like my security pass. The universe is older than them. These gods were born, they live for a while and then they die. 

Some religions are quite honest about it. I've heard that there are even Hindu shrines to cricketers in India and a cargo cult in the Pacific that worshipped the father of the current British king. 

Our God is not like that.  

The Bible makes some statements about Him that are truly mind-blowing:

Psalms 90:2, 4 NIV 

[2] Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 

[4] A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.90.2-4.NIV)

Revelation 22:13 NIV 

[13] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rev.22.13.NIV)

The Bible teaches that God is eternal: He is, He was, He will always be. 

John 1:1-2 NIV 

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.1.1-2.NIV)

Hebrews 13:8 NIV 

[8] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.13.8.NIV)

That is what is wrapped up in the Jewish name for God: YHWH, which is translated from Hebrew as ‘I am’: 

Exodus 3:13-14 NIV 

[13] Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” [14] God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.3.13-14.NIV)

Now, this is important.  

Consider this: let’s say we had a god who was born, grew old and died. Could that god ever be the ultimate creator of all? 

No, because he would have been born from something he did not create. 

Could he be all-powerful? 

No, because he suffered from the ravages of time and was therefore weaker than time. 

Could he save us forever? 

No, because he would not even last forever himself. 

God is presented here as being the ultimate ‘I am’: the One constant in the universe; the One who has always existed and will always exist; the great unchanging, all-powerful One who is not subject to the ravages of time and so can save us forever. 

That is all wrapped up in the Name God uses here: YHWH. 

We ought to love God, because He is, quite simply, the only God over all the earth. 

Apart from the God who is, we also see The God Who Created. 

The God Who Created 

Genesis 1:1 NIV 

[1] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.1.1.NIV)

John 1:3 NIV 

[3] Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.1.3.NIV)

Colossians 1:15-16 NIV 

[15] The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. [16] For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/col.1.15-16.NIV)

There is a world of difference between someone who is ‘there’ and someone who actually is involved. 

History was made in Hampden Park, Glasgow on 18^th November 2025. The Scottish men's football team qualified for their first World Cup in twenty-seven years, in a match that was one of the most astonishing I have ever seen. I watched it on TV (more than once, and on YouTube highlights several times over). Around forty-nine and a half thousand people watched it in the stadium. 

But during the game, only twenty-nine players in total actually knew what it meant to play in that cauldron of noise and emotion. Just twenty-nine. 

Everyone else saw it, but did not play in it. 

They were spectators. 

Our first aspect of God’s identity was that He is from everlasting to everlasting: He is eternal. That meant He had to have been there in the very beginning. 

But the Bible goes further. It says that He created the whole world – everything we see around us – out of nothing at all (ex nihilo), by speaking: 

Psalms 33:8-9 NIV 

[8] Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. [9] For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.33.8-9.NIV)

Nowadays, it has never been easier in the history of mankind to create. We can quickly type AI prompts that can make pictures or music or even novels for us. Composers of music can use tools that take their composition and can quickly create scores for any other instrument. Design tools can show artists and architects and designers what their designs will look like in three dimensions. Even online shopping sites let us see how their goods will look in our rooms using augmented reality. 

Yet not since the creation of the world has anything ever been created completely out of nothing. 

Because humanly it cannot be done. 

Yet God did it. 

And the world He made is magnificent.

Yet in His grace, He has placed this world in the hands of human beings to manage and take care of it (Genesis 2:15). If we degrade or despise or devalue it in any way, we are not just despising the creation, we are also despising the creator who made it.  

Moreover, He also created us in His very image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). By His grace, we are fearfully and wonderfully made – all of us (Psalm 139:13-16). Let me tell you: God is perfect. He does not make mistakes. He did not make a mistake when He created you and I. 

So if anyone despises you or I, they are not just despising us, but the graceful and creative God who created us. 

Why should we love God? 

Would you just look at what He has created! 

It’s the greatest work of art the world will ever see! 

And you and I are part of it! 

Apart from the God who is and who made, we also see The God Who Sustains. 

The God Who Sustains 

Acts 17:25 NIV 

[25] And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  

(Read the full passage at:https://bible.com/bible/111/act.17.25.NIV)

Hebrews 1:3 NIV 

[3] The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.1.3.NIV)

One of my brothers-in-law sometimes works in a quite remarkable place. It’s a massive electrical substation, in the hills around Ormoc City, Philippines.  

What makes it remarkable is not just its picturesque location. That substation receives the power for the city and the area around it from a power plant deeper in the mountains. Tongonan Power Station generates its power from a rather unusual source. It’s a geothermal power station. It generates power from water super-heated by molten lava from within Mount Bao, along the sinistral Philippine Fault line. 

So a source of energy so ferocious that it can destroy whole cities and leave them as a pile of smouldering ash is sustaining thousands of homes, and even hospitals, with life-supporting electricity. 

We have already seen that God is eternal and that He created the world just by speaking, such is His power. 

Now we see the utterly remarkable truth that His power also sustains us, and that this power is channelled through His Word – through His command. 

Remarkable, but also humbling. 

We human beings like to be in control  We try to persuade ourselves that we are the masters of our own fate. 

But it is a cruel deception. We are not even in control of our next breath. 

Psalms 104:27-30 NIV 

[27] All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. [28] When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. [29] When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. [30] When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.104.27-30.NIV)

It is nothing but breath-taking arrogance to imagine that we are self-made and can do a single thing on our own. 

The truth could not be more humbling: we are utterly and completely dependent on God – for everything. 

That is why we love God. 

Who would not love the being who keeps us alive every second of the day? 

So we have seen that we should love God because He is, He created us and sustains us.

Right there we have three reasons that should be more than enough. But the Bible is not done even there – it also says that He is The God Who Loves. 

The God Who Loves 

Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV 

[9] Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.7.9.NIV)

Deuteronomy 10:14-15 NIV 

[14] To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. [15] Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.10.14-15.NIV)

Love is not remarkable when the recipient of that love is lovely. Anyone can do that, as Jesus pointed out: 

Matthew 5:43-48 NIV 

[43]  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ [44] But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, [45] that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. [46] If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? [47] And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? [48] Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.43-48.NIV)

True love is utterly remarkable when the recipient of it is unlovely and unlovable. Jesus said this: 

John 15:13 NIV 

[13] Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.15.13.NIV)

But then He went beyond it: 

Romans 5:6-8 NIV 

[6] You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. [7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.5.6-8.NIV)

The very heart of the Gospel is that we were not lovely or lovable. We were sinners. We were objects of God’s wrath. Yet God in His grace sent Jesus to die in our place, for our sins, because He loves us: 

John 3:16 NIV 

[16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.16.NIV)

But that love did not just appear from nowhere in the New Testament. It was actually there already at the formation of the Jewish nation: 

Deuteronomy 7:7-9 NIV 

[7] The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. [8] But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [9] Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.7.7-9.NIV)

Do you see it? The Jews were, and still are, uniquely privileged among all peoples because God chose them and entrusted them with His covenant, and sent His Messiah through them. 

But, and this is a critical point, they had done nothing to deserve it. It was an act of grace. It was an act of love. 

So when we read the Ten Commandments, and other laws God gave His people, and their New Testament equivalents in the Sermons on the Mount and on the Plain, we should see these not as an attempt to impose order or to spoil our fun, but an outworking of God’s love towards us. 

He loves us, so He set the boundaries to keep us safe. That is what these are. 

And when we break them – which we do – He sent Jesus to save us. 

All of God’s plan, every last second of it, is an expression of His love towards us. 

In fact, the Apostle John wrote that there is more to it than that: God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). God’s very nature is love. We know what love is because of God: 

1 John 4:19 NIV 

[19] We love because he first loved us.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.4.19.NIV )

His love is light streaming towards our heart and our hearts are like diamonds. We are to reflect that love back to Him and refract it out to a watching world. 

Because when we love, we are truly Godly. 

So we see, then, that our God is, created, sustains and loves. This then leads to the fifth reason why we should love God: He is The God Who Saves. 

The God Who Saves 

Exodus 20:1-2 NIV 

[1] And God spoke all these words: [2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.1-2.NIV)

I was talking to a grandmother in a Bible study, who related to me how her grandchild was looking for a career. They stumbled on the idea of being a lifeguard in a swimming pool.

This appealed to them because ninety-five percent of the time they would be walking around not doing very much, and the other five percent they would be swimming, which they enjoyed. 

However, their small stature put that plan to bed. They couldn’t imagine how they, being less than five feet tall, could possibly rescue someone much larger and heavier built than them. 

Rescuing others is no small feat. I have profound respect for those who are part of the Emergency Services, and even more for those who risk their lives working for the fire brigade or coastguard or mountain rescue, who help those in seriously life-threatening conditions. 

The whole point of the Christian Gospel is that we put ourselves in a seriously life-threatening condition: sin. That condition has only one possible outcome: 

Romans 6:23 NIV 

[23] For the wages of sin is death. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.23.NIV)

When we face that outcome, we can have no complaints. We have sinned. We deserve it.

There is no unfairness. There is no injustice. God is there. He created us. He sustains us. He loves us. 

If we live a life of indifference to, or disobedience of, such a great God, we will receive what we deserve. 

And yet – we should never forget how remarkable and amazing this is – the story doesn’t end there. And neither does the verse. It goes on to say: 

Romans 6:23 NIV 

[23] For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.23.NIV)

Because He is there, because He created us, because He sustains us, because He loves us, God set in place a plan of salvation to save us from ourselves. 

That rescue plan is Jesus: 

Titus 3:3-7 NIV 

[3] At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. [4] But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/tit.3.3-7.NIV)

At the very heart of this plan is an incredible truth that our egos struggle with, but must accept: we did not earn this salvation. We do not deserve it. 

Quite the opposite. We deserve to face the eternal punishment for our sins. 

But, motivated by love and compassion for His wayward creation, God sent Jesus to save us: 

John 3:17 NIV 

[17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.17.NIV)

Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV 

[4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.2.4-5.NIV)

No other god or religion has done this. Every single one of them rewards the righteous and the high achievers. They dangle some sort of privileged eternity before humanity and ask us to seek it. 

The problem is that we will not. 

Romans 3:10-12 NIV 

[10] As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; [11] there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. [12] All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.3.10-12.NIV)

But God, and God alone, set in place a redemption plan to save the undeserving sinners from the just fate their sin deserves. 

All other gods try to give us a leg up by giving us advice on how we can be better. 

Which will fail. Of course it will. Because the gods who gave that advice were themselves all failures. Every single one of them. 

Only our God rolled up His sleeves and did something about it. 

That is why the Bible teaches this: 

Acts 4:12 NIV 

[12] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.4.12.NIV)

Our God is the God who saves. There is no other. 

But it works like this. Let’s imagine for a second that I wanted to go to a very special place, but it was too far and I couldn’t afford it, and wouldn’t be able to ever afford it. Let’s say that some benefactor, knowing what I want, decided to buy me a ticket and placed it in my hand.  

I would then have two choices. I could either swallow my pride, accept the ticket and go on the journey, or I could hand it and try to earn the money to pay for it myself, knowing that I never could. 

Jesus Christ paid the price for our salvation out of love. We had an insurmountable sin debt. Heaven was completely beyond us. Yet in bearing our sin and rising from the dead, He opened the way for us to go there. He paid for the ticket we could never afford. 

And He did it out of love. 

Surely the only logical thing is to love Him in return, accept that ticket and live a life worthy of it. 

Because that’s what it means to love God. 

We have seen that our God is, created, sustains, loves and saves. Lastly, and perhaps controversially, we see that we should love Him because He is The God Who Judges. 

The God Who Judges 

Hebrews 10:30-31 NIV 

[30] For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” [31] It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.10.30-31.NIV)

Not many people would say that someone who loves also judges. The two concepts are normally regarded as polar opposites. 

But that is far from true. 

Imagine, if you will, that you have a big brother. Your parents never disciplined him. He was left to run amok.  

Realising that he will never be brought to account, this big brother begins to bully you: to beat you, to steal your stuff, to mock you. Your parents know about it, but do nothing at all to stop it.

Would your parents be acting in love towards either you or your big brother? 

No, of course not! 

They would not be acting in love towards you because they would be letting you get beaten up by your brother. 

They would not be acting in love towards your brother because  they would not be preparing him adequately for life in the real world. 

So, you see, love needs rules. It needs judgement. It needs justice. It needs fairness. It needs consequences. 

Otherwise it isn’t love. 

Love cannot let evil remain unpunished and good unrewarded. That is not love. 

What we see here in the Ten Commandments is a contract, a treaty, a covenant. Each command is a clause. God was not just telling the Israelites how to live, He was telling them why to live that way.  

The consequences of breaking this contract are spelled out in clear, and somewhat lurid, detail later on in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 28). 

And do you know what? They were not idle threats. They happened. They took place in their entirety during the horrors of the Exile (2 Chronicles 36:15-21). The book of Lamentations outlines the horrific, traumatic, emotional effect this had on the Israelites. 

It was brutal. 

Had the Lord stopped loving them when He meted out judgement against them? 

No, but what is clear is that the Israelites had stopped loving Him. They had turned aside to idols and rejected His messengers. That’s why judgement came upon them. 

In the New Testament, we read these words: 

John 3:16-18 NIV 

[16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.16-18.NIV)

So God, in His love, sent His Son to pay the price for our sin debt to resolve our sin problem. If we accept it, we are free from condemnation. 

But if we reject it, we are condemned. 

Because God is a God of love. 

By choosing to reject His solution to our problem, we are choosing to be condemned. 

A loving God must judge sin, otherwise sin will run amok and damage the people He loves.

If we turn from sin to God and accept His sacrifice for us on the cross, we will be saved. 

But if we don’t, we will be condemned, because we will have chosen to be on the wrong side of history. 

Love brings salvation, but also judgement.

Which will you choose? 

Conclusion 

Exodus 20:2 NIV 

[2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.2.NIV)

We are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We cannot do that grudgingly or to just tick a box. The command is to love wholeheartedly, with enthusiasm. 

But of all the commandments God has given us, this ought to be the easiest to obey. After all, who is more deserving of our love than God? 

After all, He existed before time and will exist when time has ended. He created all of our world with its many splendours. He sustains it by His powerful Word. He loves You. He sent His Son to die to save you. And one day He will judge the living and the dead. 

There ought to be no-one we should love more than God, because there is no-one more deserving than Him. 

Maybe the idea that someone would need to command others to love them seems a little strange. Certainly if any human did it, we would think they were being more than a little dictatorial. 

But not God. He’d rescued the Israelites from Egypt. He’d brought them across the Red Sea. He’d provided food and water in the desert. 

He’d done so much for them. 

And He’s done so much for us too. He created us, sustains us and sent His Son to die our death so we might be saved. 

There is no-one more deserving of your love. 

So tell me: do you love God? 

Prayer 

Lord God, I am in awe of all that You have done for me. I love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. Show me how to receive Your love and refract it out to others. Amen. 

Questions for Contemplation 

• Is God right to command that we love Him? Why? 

• What has He done for you that had proved that He deserves your love? 

• How should you love God? Do you love Him in this way?