The Test of Loving God

Last week I read a great book; "All Thing for Good" by Thomas Watson. Watson was a Puritan Preacher in 17th century England. This book is his exposition on Romans 8:28. Romans 8:28 reads, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose". Watson, in his exposition, works through what loving God means, what it looks like, and how we can tell when others are actually loving God.

Chapter 5 of the book is entitled, "The Test of Love to God", Watson points to 14 tests that we can ask ourselves to know if we truly love God. Here are the 14 tests for our love for God...

1)The first fruit of love for God is the musing of the mind upon God. 
2)The next fruit of love is the desire for communion with God.
3)Another fruit of love is grief over sin. 
4)Another fruit of love is magnanimity (courage for God). 
5)The fifth fruit of love is sensitiveness. 
6)The sixth fruit of love is hatred toward sin.
7)Another fruit of love is crucifixion to self.
8)The next fruit of love is fear of God.
9)If we are lovers of God, we love what God loves. 
10)Another blessed sign of love is, to entertain good thoughts of God.
11)Another fruit of love is obedience to God. 
12)He who loves God will endeavor to make Him appear glorious in the eyes of others.
13)Another fruit of love is longing for Christ's appearing.
14)Love will make us stoop to the meanest offices. 

Here are a few observations I had reading this chapter and working through this list of 14 tests to see if we love God.

First, many of these tests revolve around the mind. Both Moses, in Deuteronomy, and Jesus, in Matthew, command us to love God with our mind. Do we think deeply about God? Do we ponder God? Do we learn more about God? Do we grow in knowledge of God? Do we spend time reading God in His Word, growing in God, and understanding more about God? If we say yes to these questions, we are loving God with our mind. To clearly love God, to claim to love God, we must love God with our mind. If we do not love God with our mind, we are only fooling and deceiving ourselves and truly do not love God at all.

Second, most of these tests of our love for God, are focused on character and the Christian spirit. What we do with our hands or feet is driving by what we think and feel. Our appetites and affections, drive our choices. What we do with our bodies, comes from the inside of our hearts and minds. If we truly love God on the inside, it will show on the outside. If we have a grief towards sin, we will run from temptation. If we love God with our minds, we will die to ourselves and desires. If we truly have good thoughts running through our minds about God, we will stoop to the lowest low and serve others. The true test of love for God begins and ends on the inside, with our character, attitudes, feelings, and desires.

Third, this list of loving God is very challenging. If the test of love only was entertaining good thoughts about God, I would feel confident I love God most of the time. But loving God also includes obeying Him, growing in the knowledge of Him, making Him glorious to others, and stooping to serve others. These parts of loving God are challenging to put into practice and grow in. Yes, I now know what loving God looks like. But I also realize now that I do not love God as much as I thought I did. This list makes me grieve in how little I love God. Yet this list is helpful in growing my love for God.

So which test of loving God do we fail? Which test of loving God gives us confidence in our love for Him? Which test of loving God do we need to grow in, work on, and be sanctified in? Which test of loving God do we need to pray to God to grow in us? We must rest assured that of we are a child of God, He will always grow our love for Him in us, if we just ask. Do we pray about our love for God?