How Do We Love God?

As I look at myself, the church, and our culture, I wonder, Where’s the love? Not just for others, but for God?

Loving God is a recurring theme in my thoughts and prayer life, so maybe I’ve posted about this before. But it just nags me. Do we even “get” love?

I keep thinking back to a time when my husband and I were engaged, when we were walking down the street in DC after seeing a spectacular art exhibit together, holding hands. We weren’t talking. We weren’t really even looking at each other. But a lady walking towards us on the street grinned from ear to ear when she saw us coming, and I’m convinced it’s because our joy in love was radiating so powerfully it could have knocked her off the sidewalk.

A lot of people would say, Well, that’s just that googly-eyed phase of love. That doesn’t last. Love’s more than a feeling. They write it off as a youthful phenomenon.

Well, sure, love is more than a feeling. The love I had for my fiancee then and for my husband now has always been more than a feeling, thanks. That’s why it has helped keep me happily and joyfully married for nine years. Instead of denigrating it, why not look at that youthful phenomenon of googly-eyed love as a model? The love we have for a mate can be overpowering, making us look ridiculous to others, a life-changing love, good or bad. Why should our love for God be less than that?

I don’t think it’s irreverent to talk about love for God in that intimate a sense. The psalmists wrote of an overpowering love (Ps. 40:5; Ps. 59:16; Ps. 31:16; Ps. 63.3, and on, and on …) in the kind of passionate poetry that some people only expect from smitten high schoolers. And let’s not even get into the Song of Songs, if we go for the interpretation that it’s an allegory of God’s love.

Love can be reverent and overpowering. Love can make you give up things at a word from your loved one. Love can be worshipful and awed. Shouldn’t we love God that way? What’s so wrong with that?