I have an ongoing struggle which concerns me telling the Lord I love him. Jesus says in Matthew 22:37 that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind. There are also numerous songs we sing telling the Lord we love Him.
Every single time I sing I find myself examining myself and the words I am singing, being mindful of the fact that God knows all things. He knows if we are sincere when we sing " I love you Lord." He knows exactly what's in our hearts.
This self examination concerning loving the Lord has been present for a while. We cannot sing a lie! What I find myself doing, after thinking about His salvation and continued mercies, is to ask myself how can I not love the Lord? It's not a situation where I do not love the Lord, but I'm sure He knows where my heart is concerning Him.
I think it's a matter of God being supreme, holy and infinite, so how can I with all my short comings and flaws possibly love a holy God the way He should be loved. I adore Him, I honor Him and continually glorify His name, so why do I find myself in this struggle? Am I just afraid to say it because of who He is? After all He is not just a mere man who one loves today but may change how you feel tomorrow for whatever reason.
What led to me writing this now is that I was thinking about some leaders at my church, thanking God for speaking through them to us and also thanking Him for also getting us all together. I then boldly thought, I love them. The Lord instantly dealt with me and I started crying. How can I boldly say I love others, people He has placed in my life, that I am thankful for, but have a problem saying I love Him.
Could it be how my thoughts are processed? There's a popular gospel song that we all know. In the chorus the question is asked, "are you Lord God almighty?" I find that I'm not able to sing it like that because I don't think I need to ask that question. I sing "you are Lord God almighty!" I'm mindful that the writer knew exactly what they were doing and God knows where their mind was.
He knows also if we just see Him as the one we go to for favors. He knows what will happen after our prayers have been answered. In Luke 17 Jesus spoke about nine who were cleansed but only one foreigner returned to glorify God for His healing.
When we say we love the Lord we need to be mindful of who He is. He is all knowing, He knows our every thought.
One may ask, could this be the work of the enemy trying to convince me that I do not love the Lord? Though the enemy is cunning and continually busy, I believe it has more to do with the fact that while we do sing these words in church and appear sincere to those around us, we cannot hide who we are on the inside from God. Everything is laid bare before Him to whom we must give an account. Hebrews 4:13
When I sing I love you Lord, it must be coming from the depths of my soul just like Jesus said. With all our heart soul and mind. It shouldn't just be rolling off my lips without genuineness because someone wrote the words in a song.
Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
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