Another response to the great and awesome God who is good and loving is to love Him back. What is David in wonder about in this psalm?
Psalm 8:4 What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
What’s he thinking? He’s amazed that the God of the whole universe has care for us here on earth, not to mention specific care and love for him as an individual. In Matthew 10 we’re told God knows us down to the number of hairs on our heads.
A response to being known and loved is to love in return. Love is meant to be reciprocated. That means that when you give love, you are meant to receive love. God is the only one perfect at loving. He will always love you perfectly in return, and He loves us first. He loved us before we were born.
Ephesians 1:4-5 …he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons.
He chose us to be his kids before we even existed. He’s loved you from the beginning of time. Then Jesus came to be with you and to die for you, showing ultimate love. It should all make you love Him!
Jesus says the most important command is this:
Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
It is a command, but it should be our delight, our easy response to being loved by Love Himself! And we’re to love Him with everything. Every part of our lives is meant to be used to love God and reflect His love. While we have dates with Jesus, meeting with Him one on one to pray and read our Bibles, we don’t then just leave Him behind as we go on with our day. He should be on our minds all the time.
How do you show God love? We praise and thank Him. That can look like prayer or singing or dancing or artwork or talking about Him to others. We spend time with Him. We pray and read the Bible and get time alone with Him. We give Him our time and attention. We don’t keep Him off to the side, or just for Sundays, or just for a few minutes each morning. We give Him gifts and serve others to help those in need and please His heart.
Lesson Point: Our response to a loving God should be to love Him in return.
Challenge Question: What do you give your time, money, and attention to? What’s on your mind? Those are the things you love. Is it God?