Love God Why should we love God? “We love because He first loved us” (1John 4:19). Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, in response to His total love for us, means that we should place God’s will ahead of ours, seek the Lord’s will in all things and make it paramount in our lives. There are several means by which we can express our love for God and our gratitude to Him for His blessings, acknowledging our total dependence on Him. We must give God the first place in our life, we must allow Him to take control of us, listen to Him speaking through the Word, and offer Him daily prayers of thanksgiving and praise.
Love your neighbour as yourself. God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in each of them. Since every human being is the child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, we are giving expression to our love of God by loving our neighbor as Jesus loves him or her. This means we need to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for everyone without discrimination based on color, race, religion, gender, age, wealth, or social status. Forgiveness, too, is vital. We love others by refusing to hold a grudge for a wrong done to us. Even a rebuke can be given as an act of love, if it is done with the right heart. We also express love through encouragement and by helping others to grow.