“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose,” (Rom. 8:28).
What is it to love God? What does it mean to love God?
If one is to love God, true knowledge of God is implied; for this lays the foundation of love. A spiritual sight of God, and a sense of his glory and beauty, creates love in our heart. When he that commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines in our hearts, and gives us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God; and when we, with open face, behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, then we are changed into the same image. The temper and frame of our hearts become like God’s, (to speak after the manner of men).
Do you love God with all your heart? Have you considered the extent to which you love him?
Joseph Bellamy said, “We begin to feel towards God, in a measure, as he does towards himself; i.e. to love him with all our hearts, (2 Cor. 3:18, 4:6).
Here in this life we begin to perceive the grounds and reasons of that infinite esteem he has of himself, and infinite complacency in himself, and why he commands all the world to love and adore him. And the same grounds and reasons which move him in this way to love himself, and command all the world to do so too, kindles the divine flame in our hearts. When we see God, in a measure, such as he sees himself to be, and have a sense of his glory and beauty in being what he is, in a measure, as he himself has, then we begin to love him with the same kind of love, and from the same motives, as he himself does ; only in an infinitely inferior degree. This sight and sense of God discovers the grounds of love to him. We see why he requires us to love him, and why we ought to love him — how right and fit it is; and so we cannot but love him. Joseph Bellamy, The Works of Joseph Bellamy (Vol. 1).
Contemplation:
O Lord, my desire is to have the greatest conviction to prize You above all, and to love you unwaiveringly. Help me to consider how holy you are, and the graces I need to truly see you in your glory. Work in me grace, love, meekness, mercifulness, humility, zeal, etc. Help me to see their importance above all other qualifications as they aid me in knowing you in a greater way.
Cause me to consider the virtue of the covenant of grace and all your promises on which the gift of my grace relies, and which you give me strength and assistance to adore you as you should be adored. Uphold me time after time giving me the victory in Christ showing you my strength is from a Savior who will not forsake the work of his hands, and will carry me in his work where he has begun it, and always causes me to triumph in Christ Jesus, who is the author of my faith and ability.
