As Christians how should we live? We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. That's the number one thing. Everything we have is a gift from God. We are so blessed, even when we're not thinking about Him! To know God is to love God.
Isaiah 40
Matthew 22:34-40
She was always best when she was most with God in a corner. She has many a whole day been pouring out her soul before God for the nation, for Zion, and the great concerns of her own soul, when them about her did judge it more expedient that she had been in her bed, by reason of some bodily infirmity that did hang upon her; but the divine pleasures that she took in her closet did drown the sense of pain. Thomas Brooks Strength in Weakness
But the most obvious fact about praise — whether of God or anything — strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless... shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars... I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: "Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?" The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. C.S. Lewis Reflections on the Psalms
Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children: - Why do we not love God as we ought (or Why do we need fixed)?
- Why do people and angels who know God well love Him?
- What are some of the multifaceted ways God is beloved?
- What are the results from loving God?
- How should loving God impact:
- our personal devotions?
- our praise of God?
- What practical suggestions were given concerning How to love God?
Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA
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