God is populating his kingdom with lovers until the day when he will fulfill all his promises of the kingdom and establish the perfect community of love with himself and his followers. Loving him is our greatest good, and for citizens of his inaugurated kingdom the King’s greatest commandment is to learn to fully love him. This keeps us on the trajectory that culminates in our future spiritual marriage with God on the New Earth. In this way we conform to the core of the image of Christ, for his highest priority is oneness with the Father and love is the bond of that oneness.
These are the reasons that loving God is the supreme commandment and supremely important for all of our growth. God’s love for us is the foundation of his goodness to us. Our resulting love for him is the foundation of all our responsibilities toward him for our growth. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19, NIV).
Knowing that God longs to be fully united in love with us and that he will bring it to pass one day, it is no surprise that Jesus said: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:37-38, NIV).
It has always been and will always be that God’s greatest command for us is to embrace a deep love-relationship with him. This is why God refers to his people as his bride so many times in the bible.[1] We will be “married” to God one day and our romance with him is in full swing right now. He already loves us with all his heart and now he asks us to love him with all our hearts. This leads to our marriage.
True love for God means an actual heart commitment to knowing and following him. Many people feel strong desire for God and even feel strong affection for him, but they do not follow through by pursuing authentic love for God. Desire and affection are not true love. One can be overcome with emotions on Sunday and go astray on Monday. Therefore, when there is a gap between our affections for God and our actions then it is time to examine our hearts to determine if there is a gap in our love for God. In any case, God wants us to enjoy our union of love with him.
[1] See for example, Ps. 45:10-15; Is. 54:5-8; 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1; Ezekiel 16, 23; Hosea 2; Mt. 22:1-14; 25:1-13; Mark 2:18-20; Jn. 3:29; II Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:22-32; Rev. 19:6-9; 21:2, 9-27; 22:17a.
