I love the song Jesus, We Love You by Bethel Music. Although it’s not a new song, I’ve been listening to it a lot lately. I especially like the lyrics of the chorus, which say:
Jesus, we love you Oh, how we love you You are the one our hearts adore
The other day, while listening to it, I remembered a conversation I had a while ago with a friend. In that conversation, he asked me a question that surprised me.
He asked me:
Have you ever asked God how He feels loved?
That’s a great question, isn’t it?
Because God is love.
Love is an essential attribute of God. Essentially, love originates from him.
God, who is eternal and infinite, has loved and will love perfectly for all eternity. It is part of his divine nature.
The Bible itself says so. In 1 John, the apostle wrote:
“But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NLT)
In other words: only those of us who have known God are capable of loving. Because we love solely and exclusively as a consequence of his love for us.
In fact, John also wrote that, a few verses later:
“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 NIV)
The only reason we are capable of love is because when God created humanity, He gave us that capacity; by his grace, He bestowed upon us the attribute of love. But with one condition: only those who have known him are capable of loving as He does.
God loves us. His Word is clear about this; it says so in many different places in Scripture. For example, in the book of Romans, the apostle Paul wrote one of the most beautiful expressions of God’s love:
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” (Romans 8:35-38 NLT)
God loves us and shows it to us in many ways.
Sometimes we’re simply not paying enough attention to notice it.
God loves us by caring for us, providing for our needs, listening to our prayers, and remaining with us. God loves us by correcting us when we err, disciplining us, and not abandoning us even in the midst of our sin. He loves us by forgiving us, transforming us, guiding us, and constantly reminding us how precious we are to him. But above all, God loves us by giving Jesus for us so that we can be his children.
God loves us and shows it to us in countless ways.
Knowing this, and also knowing that by the grace of God we can love, the question now is:
How do we show love to him?
There are many ways to show love.
In fact, in 1992, Dr. Gary Chapman published his famous book: The Five Love Languages.
This book explores the ways in which people give and receive love. It suggests that everyone gives and receives love in at least one of the following five ways: words of affirmation, acts of service, gifts, quality time, and physical touch.
So, if our capacity to love comes from God, and if, according to psychology, these are the five main ways in which we demonstrate love, wouldn’t that mean that God himself shows us his love and also receives our love in those same five languages?
Perhaps Chapman didn’t discover anything new. Perhaps he simply observed in human beings something that was already there from creation: that we are imperfect reflections of how God himself loves. If we were created in his image, it makes sense that even our ways of expressing love point toward him.
And indeed, we can see this clearly in the life of Jesus. If you stop to think about it, God affirmed Jesus with his words when he was baptized (Matthew 3:17). Also, Jesus often spent quality time with his disciples and friends. At the wedding in Cana, he provided the wine simply as a gift (John 2:1-11). On the day he was betrayed, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, demonstrating an attitude of service (John 13:4-5). And finally, when lepers approached him to be healed, Jesus showed them love by having physical contact with them (Matthew 8:1-3).
God uses the five love languages to show us his love.
And that’s okay. God surely has many other ways of showing us his love that, due to our human nature, are difficult for us to comprehend. But I think we should stop trying to overcomplicate God. There are things we will never understand, but we should enjoy the ones He does choose to reveal to us.
God loves us in languages He knows we can understand.
Following this same logic, since our love is a reflection of his, we too can communicate our love for God through those same languages.
When we pray and worship him, we use words of affirmation; when we spend time alone with him in intimacy and communion, that is quality time; when we serve our neighbor, those are acts of service. When we give offerings to different causes or make sacrifices, we are giving a gift to God. And when we surrender and bow down before him, we may not be able to literally touch him, but we can use our bodies to worship him and connect with his presence.
Now, according to Chapman’s theory, the way we receive love is usually the way we most naturally express it, but if the loved person does not receive love in the same way as we do, they may feel unloved.
And with that, I return to the question my friend asked me…
How does God feel loved?
It may be bold to think we can fully answer that question, but to think God feels loved just because we sing songs saying we love him is a mistake. God deserves more than that. God wants us to be truly intentional in showing him love in the way we best express it.
Thankfully, God speaks the five love languages, but perhaps He also has his favorite.
So, what would be God’s favorite love language?
The Word of God reveals it, and curiously, it is not any of those five.
In John 14:15 Jesus said:
“If you love me, obey my commandments.” (John 14:15 NLT)
We can show our love for God in many ways, just as He does for us, but God’s favorite love language is obedience.
Zach Neese, in his book How to Worship a King, shares on this topic and wrote the following:
“Everything else, if not done on the foundation of obedience, is vanity and futility. God is not fooled. He knows who really loves him. His true children demonstrate their love for him by loving and following his ways.” — Zach Neese
That is what makes obedience born of love so valuable in God’s eyes. Because when you love someone, consciously or unconsciously, you imitate their behavior. When we love God, the best way we can show it is by obeying his Word.
One of the most sincere ways to say “I love you” to God is to decide to follow his ways even when doing so is not easy.
So, the next time you sing that you love God, it’s worth asking yourself if your life is saying it too.
“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
(Matthew 24:12-13 NIV)
If this Pensamiento resonated with you or blessed you in any way, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Also, if you’re going through something and need prayer, please feel free to send me a private message.
If anything you read blesses you, encourages you, or draws you closer to Jesus, then my work was worthwhile. But if you’d like to support me in continuing to write, you can buy me a coffee. Your help allows me to keep creating and sharing these reflections. God bless you!
References
https://www.letras.com/bethel-church/jesus-we-love-you/traduccion.html [Spanish]
The knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer [Spanish]
https://www.coalicionporelevangelio.org/articulo/atributos-comunicables/ [Spanish]
https://www.gotquestions.org/Espanol/cinco-lenguajes-del-amor.html [Spanish]
How to Worship a King by Zach Neese [English]
Amazing and thought-provoking, as always! Thank you for sharing another amazing piece!
i really loved this thought. i have never thought of that before — how we show our love to God, besides keeping the commandments. I love how you applied it to each love language! i will definitely be coming back to this essay. what a beautiful perspective on the love of God and for God.