“We must love God more for what He is, than for what He bestows.” ~Thomas Watson
When we think about God we naturally have thoughts of what He has done for and given us. He is a great God who does everything for His people. All the great gifts we can look back on only come from Him. We send our prayers to God on different matters and He answers. We have food, clothes, means of transportation, shelter, families, health, jobs, the ability to use our senses to take in all the creation before us.
All the things above are wonderful blessings and should cause us to love God more and more, but it shouldn’t be the main cause of our love. Think about this, would an evil god give these gifts? Would an unholy god shower his people with goodness and love? Would an unjust god do what is upright and honorable?
The study of the attributes of God will quickly direct you to the main reason why we must love God. The gifts he gives us are great blessings but who God is in relation to all of His creation is something that must be understood as far as it can be, and should be the first reason for our love.
I won’t go into every attribute of God but will highlight a few. I would recommend a great book by Arthur W. Pink called The Attributes of God. I have used this book for some of what I’m writing here.
Take God’s holiness for example. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines holiness as being “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” Holiness shows a seperation, God, being infinitely pure, is seperate from all that is sinful and ungodly. He cannot look upon sin, He hates it, He is Holy. God’s holiness is the reason for the seraphim to cry out before His throne in Isaiah 6:3 saying “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” God is so holy that Moses could only approach him as burning bush in Exodus 3. And that holiness seperates us from God also. Our sin is something God cannot tolerate. So knowing what the gospel says, we should be thankful that God is Holy and made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Christ. His holiness deserves our love and attention before earthly blessings.
Next, being a calvinist, I would point to God’s Sovereignty. This one is highly debated and often ignored. I will say this and hope not to offend anyone reading this, if you dispute the Sovereignty of God as the bible teaches, I would ask you to shut yourself in your closet and pray God truly reveals Himself to you as He is. There should be no debate as to this attribute which describes God as “Most high, LORD of heaven and earth, subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent, infinitely elevated above even the highest of creatures; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him” ~AW Pink. ●Psalm 115:3 states “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” ●Jeremiah 32:17 ” Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you”. ●Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” ●Daniel 4:35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”. Sovereignty is an attribute that gives me comfort as a believer. I know that nothing is left to chance or karma. I know that no matter what may come my way, riches or poverty, blessings or affliction, God has ordained every event according to His purpose in wisdom. All the afflictions I will ever face will be a means of sanctification and God sovereignly guides me through each one until He takes me home. That should be a great cause for love to be given to God.
Finally I would point to the Immutability of God. This divine attribute really holds up all others in my opinion. Without it, we would have a God of constant change. Pink says “God is perpetually the same: subject to no change in His being, attributes, or determinations. Therefore, God is compared to a ROCK (Deu 32:4) that’s remains immovable”. If God were not immutable/unchanging, then the first two attributes would be subject to change. Imagine a god that’s Holy and Sovereign one minute and unholy and unable to maintain control over his creation the next! That’s a horrible image if one could even picture it. It would make Him like our government. Saying one thing and unable to keep his word. Or like a government saying they care for children while using the unholy practice of abortion to kill them. It would be absurd to have a God that is subject to change. And thank God He is the same now as He was before and will always be. ●Malachi 3:6 “For I, the Lord, do not change” ●Psalm 102:27-27 “Of old You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
“Even they will perish, but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
“But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.” ●Psalm 33:11 “The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation.” ●Isaiah 46:10 “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure”.
We should always be thankful for the gifts God has bestowed to us and never take them or Him for granted. But we should always make every effort to understand who God is and love Him first. When we begin to understand who God is then the reality of who we are comes to light, and apart from the saving work of Christ, the light is cast from the flames of hell. Love God first, love your blessings and love your afflictions as well because they may be God’s hand comforming you. But most of all love God.
God let me not love the good you give more than I love you. Let me look to you with love even when the blessings seem to be gone. When I’m suffering, let me always love you. When my life is full of blessings after blessings, let me not forget where they come from. Give me wisdom to better understand your holiness, help me trust always in your sovereignty, and always be reminded that you are the LORD, and you will never change. Amen.
No King but Christ 