HE IS WORTHY!

If you truly know how much God loves you, you cannot help but love Him in return!  First John 4:19 says, "We love Him, because He first loved us."

Of course, we know He loves us; John 3:16 tells us that He loves all of humanity, because He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for the sins of the whole world!  First John 2:2 says, "And He is the propitiation (the satisfaction of a debt, stamped "paid in full") for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

But few (Christians or non-Christians) know just how much God loves us.  In His prayer to the Father just before He would be betrayed, "tried," and crucified, Jesus prayed for His disciples, saying: 

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.  And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one:  I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, AND HAST LOVED THEM, AS THOU HAST LOVED ME" (Jn. 17:20-23).

How much does God love you and me?  He loves us just as much as He loves Jesus!  WOW!

The Word of God repeatedly tells us that we are to "love God" (Deut. 10:12; Neh. 1:5; Ps. 145:20; Dan. 9:4; Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 8:3; 1 Jn. 4:20; 5:2)!  We are to "love Him" (Mk. 12:33; Lk. 7:42; Jn. 14:21, 23; 1 Cor. 2:9; Jam. 1:12; 2:5)!  We "shall love the Lord (our) God" (Deut. 6:5; 11:1; 19:9; 30:6, 16, 20; Mt. 22:37; Mk. 12:30; Lk. 10:27)!  Note that the Old Testament Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, all call for man to love God, as does the New Testament, which tells us why He is worthy of our love!

So how does one show that he loves God?  The Apostle Paul answered that when he wrote: 

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.  For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Gal. 5:13-14).