Should I love God or should I obey God?  I’ve heard both ideas raised in a variety of matters, but it seems like all the arguments can be boiled down to these two options. 

First Thought

I’m not suggesting that the two are mutually exclusive.  Maybe they are, but we’ll have to figure that out as we think about this idea.  For now, let’s look at them individually.

Should I Love God?

It would be really easy to reference Matt. 22:37, where Jesus says that we are supposed to love God with all our heart, mind and soul.  Setting aside Jesus’ statement, let’s look at what the Bible says about love and about loving God.

Love

I John 4:8 states that God is love.  This is important because it means so much more than that God is loving or loves.  It is true that God is loving(John 3:16); and it is true that God loves people(Rom. 5:8).  But I John 4:8 says something that goes far beyond John 3:16 and Rom. 5:8.  God doesn’t just love, as if God loving us was a minor thing.  God IS love.  Love is a part of God’s character.  It describes Who He is.  To say that we know God, we must take into consideration love.  Again, not just that He is loving, but He IS love.  If we do not know love, we CANNOT know God.  It is an inseparable part of His character, Who He is.

If you look at some portion of the Old Testament and see God punishing people, we cannot view God in that instance and ignore that God is love.  In that instance, He was still love.  It might not seem like it, but He was still love at that time, and every other time for that matter.  And when we separate ourselves from God, we separate ourselves from love.  Thankfully, in this life, we are not completely separated from God.  We can still see His impact around us.  We can still see His love around us.  Unfortunately, if we are separated from God eternally, then there is no part of God that would be near us.  Jesus describes hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth(i.e. sadness and hate)(Matt. 13:42).  There is no love there because there is no God there.  By contrast, heaven is described as a place where God wipes away all tears(Rev. 21:4).   This isn’t because people are crying in heaven, but rather the statement is making the point that by being with God, there are no more tears because there is no reason for tears.  Being that close to God, that close to love, will be a protective barrier that nothing can break through.  If that doesn’t convince you that we should love God, nothing will, not even Jesus commanding it(Matt. 22:37).

Think about everything God has done for you throughout the course of your life.  If you can’t see much of anything, you are not understanding what you see properly.  God is our Creator(Gen. 1-2).  He made us.  The fact that we are alive is because of Him.  He is also our Sustainer(Ps. 55:22).  Gen. 1 also states that God made everything around us, specifically the air we breathe and the food we eat.  Without these blessings from God, we would die.  He created the earth to be a proper habitation for us.  Without that, we would die.  Every physical blessing we have is because of Him.  He blessed us with abilities and opportunities.  Without those things, we could have nothing.  It is true that we have to make use of our abilities and opportunities, but that part is up to us.  He blessed us with the raw materials.  We just have to use them.

Based on what we have seen thus far, we should love God.  Yes, Jesus commanded it, but even without that command, we should still love God.  It should be an automatic response to everything He does for us and everything He has done for us in the past.  But what about obedience?

Should I Obey God?

I Pet. 1:14 states that we are to be obedient children.  Peter is not referring to a child’s response to a parent, but rather the response of God’s people to their God.  In Heb. 5:9, the Hebrew writer states that we should obey Jesus because He is the source of our eternal salvation. 

Obedience

In John 14:15, Jesus says that if you love Him, you will keep His commandments(i.e. obey Him).  But let’s set aside that commandment for a minute.  Instead, let’s think about other reasons why we should want to obey Him.  In Isa. 55:8-9, God tells His people that His thoughts and His ways(the things He thinks and does) are not like people’s thoughts and ways.  In fact, His thoughts and ways are higher than people’s, and he uses the comparison between heavens and the earth.  That is how much higher they are.  And the earth will never reach the heavens.  But the good news is that God is not just “flexing.”  Rather, it is an invitation.  He is so much better than us; shouldn’t we want to learn from Him?  That is His point.  He wants us to learn from Him, and not just an academic knowledge, but rather an implemented knowledge that leads to a change in the way we live our lives.  He created us, so He knows what is best for us.  And He wants what is best for us.  That is why He tells us how we should live our lives.  He isn’t some bossy, control freak.  He is our loving Creator.   He has only ever wanted what is best for us.  So when He(Who knows everything) tells us what we should do, we should do it.  We should obey.

Should I Love God or Should I Obey God?

If you’ve gotten this far, you already know the answer.  It’s both.  But it isn’t just two, separate things that we should do.   They should be inseparably intertwined.  We should love God, and our love for God should cause us to obey Him.  In our obedience, we should see His love for us, and we should respond in like kind(i.e. we should love Him). 

Can We Obey God and Not Love Him?

Is it possible to obey God and not love Him?  I guess you could do the things He says purely out of fear.  You might even grow to despise Him because He is so controlling.  This will certainly not lead to love, but that is because the obedience came from the wrong place . . . fear.  The “fear” that is often used in reference to God(see Eccl. 12:13) is a reverential trust.  It is not the “fear” that you would experience if you came face to face with a polar bear or a great white shark(if you were swimming in the ocean).  The fear of God in the Bible is all about our reverence, our appreciation for how great He is.  But that reverence is mixed with trust; we trust Him because we know that all He wants is what is best for us.  But if all we feel about God is fear of punishment, our faith is immature.  True, it might start there, but it needs to grow.  John said in I John 4:18 that there is no fear in love.  Why?  Because perfect love drives out fear(he is referring to our relationship with God).  He goes on to state that fear has to do with punishment(i.e. hell).  But people who love God understand that He wants them to be in heaven with Him.  We understand that God loves us, and if He loves us, there is no reason to fear Him(in the way that most people use the word “fear” now, like with the polar bear and great white shark).

Can We Love God and Not Obey Him?

Yes . . . and no.  People will say that they love God, yet not obey Him.  If you look, you will find all kinds of people who say they love God, but clearly do not obey Him.  Just look at how they live their lives.  So in that sense, I would say “yes.”  But in reality, the answer is “no.”  If a person loves God, and I don’t just mean they say they love God, I mean if they really love Him, they are going to obey Him.  Now, it is true that they might love Him and not know exactly what He wants them to do.  But it is hard to know God enough to love Him, yet not know Him enough to obey Him.  The two really go hand in hand.  Now, is there always room for growth on our parts?  Yes.  Absolutely.  If we are not growing, we are dying.  It’s that simple.  And if someone loves God and is shown that they are not obeying Him in some way, they will either start obeying Him, or they will show that they do not love Him, and they probably never did love Him.  More likely, they loved some perverted version of God.  The God they loved was never the God of the Bible, but rather some Frankenstein-esque version of God that they created by cobbling together some things from the Bible and other things from themselves that they value.  The God they create in their minds is really the one they want to be God, not the God Who really is.

Conclusion

If we love God, we will obey Him.   If we obey Him, we almost certainly love Him.  The two are inextricably intertwined.  So let’s think about how we love God.  Let’s remember why we love God.  Let’s learn more about Him so we can better understand what He wants for us, and how we can obey Him.  Let’s grow closer to Him.  Let’s become more and more like Him(I Pet. 1:14-16).