“I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications” (Psalm 116:1).
TEXT — Psalm 116:1-6
Message
It is generally accepted that love is blind and should be unconditional. We are not to love a person because of what we get from him. It is no longer considered to be pure and sincere if a show of love is a response to one’s benefactor. While this may be true, there is also no better way to respond to and show appreciation to one’s benefactor than to respond in love. Love should naturally emanate from grateful hearts.
The psalmist here, expresses his deep love and affection for God. He has no better way to respond to the One who has answered his prayers when in a desperate situation. He feels bound by gratitude to love the Lord for all He has done for him and this is logical. This love will be exclusively for God alone as he resolves never to call upon any other god.
To love God because of the things He does for us is mercenary, and cannot be pure love. How else can one prove his gratitude to God for all the blessings received if not to love Him in return? We are more obliged to love God because there is no other way we can pay back all He does for us. We are not deserving of His love and the abundant mercies and goodness He shows to us. We do not even have the means to repay God for all His benefits. We cannot give anything in return that will measure up to the least of His daily blessings. All we can give is our love and wholehearted devotion.
Our grateful love should move us not to allow any other thing or person rival His place in our lives. It should drive us to total devotion and obedience to Him with trust, serving Him wholeheartedly with all our gifts, skills, talents, resources and deepest love we can muster.
Thought for the day
True love for God is genuine, pure and unconditional.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
