Loving God More
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. – Matthew 22:37-38.
In order for any relationship to grow it must be cultivated and nurtured. Our relationship with God requires that we do the same if our love for Him is to grow. Of course, we need to talk with God which means we not only talk but also, we listen to what He has to say to us. We also must learn more about God and as we know more about Him our love for Him will grow. Bible study is essential to this process of learning more about God and also to listening to what He has to say to us.
- A. Torrey had great energy in service of His God. He was the Superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute and pastor of the Moody Memorial Church. For five years (1902 – 1906) he was an evangelist traveling the world and he was dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (1912 – 1924). He served as the first pastor of the Church of the Open Door. While serving in these capacities he somehow found time to write forty books. Torrey found the energy and strength for his service to the Lord by immersing himself in the Word of God.
A man once complained to Dr. Torrey that he could not get anything out of his Bible study and said the Scripture seemed to be as dry as dust. Torrey suggested that the man take a book of Scripture and read it twelve times a day for a month. The suggested book of Scripture was Second Peter. The man said later, “My wife and I read Second Peter three or four times in the morning, two or three times at noon, and two or three times at dinner. Soon I was talking Second Peter to everyone I met. It seemed as though the stars in the heavens were singing the story of Second Peter. I read Second Peter on my knees, marking passages. Teardrops mingled with the crayon colors, and I said to my wife, ’See how I have ruined this part of my Bible.’ ’Yes,’ she said, ’but as the pages have been getting black, your life has been getting white.’”
I want to challenge you to do the same thing! To take up the study of Second Peter reading it twelve times a day for a month. You could also memorize the little book since it is only 61 verses long it can be memorized in 30 1/2 weeks memorizing two verses per week. No, this is not an easy challenge! This is an opportunity to draw closer to God, to learn more of God, to grow in your love for God in obedience to the Great Commandment.
May we all grow in our love for our God!
(In order for any relationship to grow it must be cultivated and nurtured. Our relationship with God requires that we do the same if our love for Him is to grow.)