Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3 (NLT)
When you love someone, you want to make them smile.
Years ago parents used to arrange marriages for their kids. In an arranged marriage, families would choose a spouse for their child to the best of their ability. Of course, at first the couple wouldn’t be in love, but the idea was they would develop love for each other.
If they developed love, that marriage would thrive. Without love, it would be hard. You see, a loveless marriage becomes centred on roles and rules rather than relationship, which takes all the joy and passion out of it.
The same is true of your relationship with God. If you give your life to Christ and never develop a love for God, you will have a passionless relationship with Him that’s just based on roles and rules. Your life becomes this hard, rule-bound existence rather than having a bubbling-over joy about spending time with God and following His lead.
On the other hand, when you grow in your experience of God’s love and your love for Him, you stop asking, “What do I have to do?” and you start saying, “I love you so much that I want to serve you God! What can I do for you?”
Just as a loving husband is happy to do things for his wife just to see her smile, as you develop this love walk with God, you will begin to want to follow God’s ways. So, if you want to overcome the temptation to do what you know is wrong, grow in your love walk with God. This love walk is the key to loving others and following God’s ways.