When Jesus was asked what was the most important commandment in the Scriptures, He answered that it was to love God. We are told to love God through out the Bible. We are also commanded to love fellow Christians, our neighbors, and even our enemies.
Why love God and others too?
After a careful study of the Scriptures, I found the following 10 reasons to love God and others. I have grouped them around three themes: who God is, who we are in Christ, and what God wills to accomplish through us as we love others in obedience to Him.
Who God Is
1. God Commands Us to Love
The first and most important reason to love is that God commands us to love Him and others. In Deuteronomy 6:5, Moses declares that the people of Israel are to love God with all their heart, soul, and strength. Moses reminds them three more times to love God, in Deuteronomy 10:12, 11:13, and 30:6.
Moses also commands the Israelites to love their neighbor in Leviticus 19:18. The Israelites are also commanded to love foreigners or sojourners in Deuteronomy 10:19.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment in the law of Moses, He answered that the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Jesus also commands His followers to love one another (John 13:34).
2. God Loves Us
In 1 John 4:11, the apostle John writes that we are to love one another because God loved us.
In the preceding chapter, the apostle also exhorts us to lay down our life sacrificially because Jesus laid down His life, showing us what love truly is (1 John 3:16).
When we consider how much God has loved us in Christ, we should have no need of any other reason to love them in return or to love others for Christ’s sake.
3. God Is Love
God is characterized as love (1 John 4:8,16), and true love comes from God (1 John 4:7). It follows that we should love in order to be like our heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ, who showed us such great love.
When we are exhorted to do something in Scripture, it is often with the goal that we can be more like our heavenly Father, whether it be in perfection (Matthew 5:48), purity (1 John 3:3), or love.
It’s an amazing thought that God loves us because it is His very character. Even more astounding, we can grow in showing that same character by the saving grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, is it not (Galatians 5:22)?
Who We Are in Christ
4. We Should Not Be Like Cain
The apostle John provides another reason to love one another. If we do not pursue love, we will revert to hatred and murder, becoming like Cain, who killed his brother (1 John 3:11-14).
The inevitable consequence of disregarding love for others is loving ourselves and becoming selfish and spiteful, like Cain (Genesis 4:5-8)
5. We Know We Are Alive In Christ
John gives yet another reason. By loving one another, we know that we have passed from death to life. In other words, we know we are spiritually reborn and living as true followers of Christ (1 John 3:14).
6. We Have Assurance in Our Hearts
John also writes that we should love one another because in so doing, we will have peace in our hearts and an assurance that we are in Christ (1 John 3:19).
The apostle was aware that some have sensitive hearts and are quick to condemn themselves (1 John 3:20). They may even wonder if they are truly in Christ.
John assures them that if they love their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in action and in truth, they have an objective and trustworthy indication that they are right before God.
7. We Cover Sin by Our Love
The apostle Peter notes another reason for loving one another. He states that by loving our fellow believers, and loving them deeply and sincerely, we will cover over a multitude of sin.
Peter may be alluding to Proverbs 10:12 and 17:9, two proverbs that speak about love bringing peace and forgiveness because someone who loves does not repeat offenses and stir up issues.
Instead of creating more problems, we love others and, in the process, promote peace instead of turmoil.
What God Wills to Do Through Us
8. We Show We Follow Christ to Others
In John 13:35, Jesus tells His disciples that others will see that they are His disciples because of their love for one another.
In other words, a compelling way to show others that we follow Christ is to love them as Christ would have.
9. We Complete God’s Love to Others
The apostle John also writes that God’s love is perfected or completed in us as we show God’s love to others (1 John 4:12).
John writes that no one has seen God, but we, in a sense, show God to those that we love. And God’s love is completed or perfected as we love in obedience, according to His will.
10. We Move Others to Glorify God
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that we should let our light shine before others so that they may see them and glorify God (Matthew 5:16).
The apostle Peter echoes the same thought, saying that our good works should bring glory and praise to God (1 Peter 2:12).
These passages don’t specifically mention love, but they do speak to a more general truth: acts of obedience to God, like love, have the potential to show others who God is and move them to glorify Him.
God’s Glory and Human Needs
Shouldn’t we love others who have a need? Yes, if we know of a need, we should attempt to meet it in faith.
But note that we are not meeting needs because of the needs. We don’t show love because a person needs love. We love because of something more important than needs and the people who have them.
We love because of God and for His glory.
And we also love as an act of faith, trusting God to work in the situation to bring about the perfect results for His glory and everyone’s good.
Conclusion
When I began to search the Scriptures for reasons to love God and others, I thought I might find mention of loving others because they need to be loved. Or that others deserve to be loved. Or that it will improve the lives of those who are needy, marginalized, or lonely.
But the Scriptures focus on God and His glory, first and foremost.
When we love God and focus on His glory, we may see Him accomplish more than we could have imagined through our seemingly insignificant acts of kindness and generosity.
If, on the other hand, we focus on meeting needs, even with the most genuine love but without God being the priority, we may be giving our strength to glorify another.
Let us focus on our heavenly Father and the unfathomable love we know through Him in Christ. May this vision of love drive us to love our triune God and others for His glory.