I've always found it difficult to teach about the #1 commandment. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." - Deut. 6:5

Really? Can you COMMAND someone to love?
Apparently, if you're God, yes you can.

But how? How do you learn to truly love God with everything? I mean, I can't just walk up to you and say, "LOVE ME!" and expect that you'll be able to do it. Maybe you could tolerate me or even like me a lot, but to love me with everything you have? To be willing to lay down your life for me? Let's be honest, I can be pretty unlovable sometimes. I'm messed up and I'm wrong about stuff all the time, just like you. I have no RIGHT to command you to do ANYthing, yet alone to love me!

Then again, if ANYone could COMMAND you to love them, it would have to be God, right? Just because you don't always see eye to eye with Him doesn't make Him unlovable. After all, He's GOD. Creator of everything. If you disagree with Him about something, it's just possible that He's right and you're wrong.

So how do you fall in love with God?

I think it starts the way any relationship starts. You get to know Him. Would Erin and I have fallen in love if we never took the time to get to know each other? I'd have seen her from a distance, and noticed her undeniable hotness...but love? And if my wife can love me the way she does, with ALL my imperfections, then it only makes sense that the more we learn and understand about the one and only PERFECT God, the more we'll fall in love.

Okay, so maybe you don't think He's so perfect.
But that's because you don't know Him very well.

God's command to love Him is not egotistical. He happens to BE perfect and is therefore deserving of such love...unlike you, or me or ANYONE else. His command is also an invitation to get to know Him.

So take some time to sit and talk with Him. Ask Him to help you understand Him better. Dust off your Bible and find out what you can about Him. Come to places (such as The College Church!) where people are talking about Him. And talk about Him with other people who are also trying to figure Him out.

But please understand that love takes time. You won't wake up the next day, head-over-heals in love, just because you read a chapter in the Bible. Kudos to you for doing so, but don't expect a tingly feeling right away. Just take some time to get to know Him. I'm telling you, the more you understand how unbelievably GOOD He has been to you, the more you can't help but falling for Him.