How to Love God?
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” He explains that loving God is not about keeping commandments mechanically, but about giving the heart fully to God, living in constant fellowship and awareness of His presence.
🔸 First: Love as a Living Relationship
God asks not for mere obedience, but for a loving heart. Love makes obedience joyful and service delightful. The true lover of God has no room in his heart for worldly distractions.
🔸 Second: Being Occupied with God
To love God, you must think of Him often. Give Him time, thought, and affection. Speak to Him and about Him. As one thinks constantly of a dear friend, so must the believer think continually of God.
🔸 Third: Involve God in Everything
Invite God into every action, big or small. Before any task, say: “Lord, be with me in this.” When you succeed, say: “I saw Your hand in it.” Such awareness transforms ordinary life into divine fellowship.
🔸 Fourth: Remember God’s Goodness
Gratitude deepens love. Remember His gifts—your life, protection, blessings, and redemption. Forgetting His goodness leads to coldness of heart, but remembering it ignites love.
🔸 Fifth: Meditate on God’s Attributes
Meditate on God’s beauty, power, patience, and mercy. Even nature reveals Him—the heavens, flowers, and creatures all speak of His care. As David said: “The heavens declare the glory of God.”
🔸 Sixth: Pray with Love, Not Routine
Prayer should be heartfelt, not mechanical. Speak honestly with God; tell Him your desires, weaknesses, and gratitude. Say: “Lord, give me to love You more than all things.” Love-filled prayer strengthens union with Him.
🔸 Seventh: Reject Worldly Love
Love for God cannot coexist with love for the world. Scripture says: “Friendship with the world is enmity with God.” True love requires purity, repentance, and detachment from vanity and self.
🔸 Eighth: Learn from the Saints
Reading the lives of saints inspires love for God. They forsook all for Him, lived in holiness, and became friends of God. Their stories remind us that divine love is possible and real for every heart that seeks it.
🔸 Spiritual Conclusion
Loving God is a life of continual awareness, gratitude, prayer, and purity. It grows daily until the heart is filled with Him alone, able to say with David: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.”
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