How to Love God

His Eminence, Metropolitan Demetrius of America

 

 

God is love, as St. John the Theologian tells us, and God’s love is like an abyss—it is endless. This means that we can never truly love God the way that we should love Him. St. Paul the Apostle tells us that we progress from glory to glory, which basically means that, even though we may progress to higher and higher stages in our love for God, we never reach the top, that is, perfect love for God. There is no end to the wondrous process of growing in our love for God, not even in the next life. It continues to increase for eternity: Grace increases, love increases, as does everything good that comes with this jubilant, everlasting growth.

So, first we should admit the reality that we do not love God the way that we should love God. If we are commanded to love God the way that He loves us, then we clearly see that we fall short. There is just no comparison. However, at the same time, we should never despair, because despair is the joy of the devil. We should put all of our hope in God.

We start showing our love for God in actions first and foremost. We can talk about how we love God until we are blue in the face, but we actually express our love with actions; as the saying goes, “actions speak louder than words.” What are actions? Following His holy commandments and living a Christian life with humility and charity. When we fail at that, we should have a spiritual sensitivity and should be ready to repent. As the Saints have taught us, to fall is human, but to remain fallen is demonic. Repentance is also an expression of our love for God.

As I said, there are different stages of love for God. We must always look at ourselves as beginners, because if we think that we are advanced, or if we expect that we are very progressed, then pride has entered in. This is why despair often follows: despair is an offshoot of pride.

Prayer is the key. St. John of Kronstadt teaches us that there are three attributes of true prayer: humility, simplicity, and love for God. We should always pray to increase our love for God, and we should pray that our Lord teaches us to love Him the way that we should love Him.

How do we know if we are on the right track? If you have developed, in your conscience, love for the services of the Church, a wanting to go to the services, as well as saying your prayers and remembering our Lord throughout the day, this is a positive sign that you may be on the right track; but put all of your hope in God. The prerequisite for all this, of course, is being in the Church, having the True Faith. Your spiritual Father should be your guide on this journey; he can help you gauge your spiritual direction.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXXIV (2017), No. 3, pp. 56-57.