How Do We Know A Man That Loves God?

It is very difficult to know a man that loves God; especially nowadays that religion has become a tag rather than a way of expressing an intimate relationship with the heavenly father. This has made it much harder to understand when people proclaim the name of the lord with the tip of their tongues, but they are far from him in their hearts.

However, there are ways we may understand a man that truly loves God from his heart. Some of the things that would be visible in his life include:

1.He keeps God’s command: Keeping God’s command is one of the ways of showing one’s love for him. Jesus made it clear that it is the man who keeps his commands that truly loves him (John 14:21, 15:10, 1 John 5:3; 2John 6)

2.He believes God: One way we could show we love him, is for us to believe in him: Anyone who does not believe in him does not truly love him. John 6:67-69, 9:35-38, 1 Peter 1:7-8). We are told that Abraham believed in him and it was accounted for him as righteousness: He was also called the friend of God for this reason (James 2:23).

3.He fears him: Having the fear of God is a demonstration of one’s love for him. When we talk about fear here, we are not talking about morbid fear, but reverence for him (Deut.10:12; Job 1:8; Ps.33:8, Phil.2:12)

4.He hates evil: when a man loves the lord, he hates evil because the lord hates evil. In a nutshell, a man who loves the lord would also love what God loves and hate what he hates (Ps 97:10; Prov.8:13; Rom. 12:9). Joseph demonstrated this by refusing to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife, because he understood that the lord hates it. (Gen.39:7-9)

5.He is wholeheartedly devoted to him: Caleb and Joshua proved their love for God by being wholeheartedly devoted to him. When the rest ten spies showed half-hearted devotion, their heart was truly with the lord because they loved him (Numb.32:11-12; Josh.14:9-10). King Hezekiah also did the same thing to show how much he loved the lord (2 Chr.31:21).

6.He loves his presence: Loving the lord’s presence is also another way of showing one’s love for him. The person who loves the lord would want the lord’s presence to be with him at all times (Ps.23:6; 27:4, 51:11, 122:1; Luke 2:49).

7. He loves the brethren: No one can love the Lord if he does not love the brethren (both his blood brothers and Christian brothers). 1 Peter 1:22; 3:8; I John 3:10-12, 14-17, 4:7-8, 20-21. He also extends the love to his enemies (Matt.5:43-48).

8.He worships the Lord: True love for the Lord also means worshiping him and taking part in the ordinances of the Christian religion (Ps.30:4, Lk.22:17-19; Acts 2:41-42; 1 Cor.11:17-34, 14:26, 16:1-2; Col.3:16, 1 Tim.2:8)

9.He wins souls: Winning souls for the Lord is a way of letting him know that you love him, and do not wish to enjoy him alone (Prov.11:30; Matt.28:19; Mk.16:15; Rom.1:14-15; 2Tim.4:2)

10.He lends to the poor: He opens his hands unto the poor, and gives of what the lord has blessed him with unto them (Prov.14:31, 19:17, 21:13, 22:9, 28:27; Heb.6:10).

11.He accepts God’s discipline: The man who loves God accepts his discipline; he does not complain when the lord disciplines him. He accepts the lord’s discipline the same way a child would accept his/her father’s discipline (Deut.8:5, Ps 94:12-13; Heb12:5-12; Rev.3:19).