God loves us. To save His children, Heavenly Father left the glorious Kingdom of Heaven and came to this earth in the flesh 2,000 years ago. He endured countless ridicules and insults, being severely whipped, and suffered crucifixion to pay for our sins. He loves us so deeply.

Even at this moment, Heavenly Mother is walking with us on this earth and showing Her love for us. She loves and cares for us so much that She even gave up Her glorious throne in Heaven, being willing to sacrifice Her own life for us. She loves us more than anything else in the world, and always understands and comforts us though we are still immature.

We, too, love God. However, we need to think about if there have been moments when we forgot about God, saying that we love God. Only when God, whom we love, is in our hearts can we truly walk with God and enter the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

Walking with a loved one

On a quiz show, the following question was given: What is the quickest way to get from London in the UK to Paris in France? The contestants gave many different answers: By plane, by high-speed craft, and so on. However, the answer did not lie in physical means. The answer selected by the examiner was “traveling together with your loved one.”

It doesn’t matter what transportation you take to get somewhere if you go there with your loved one. Though you take a slow cart, it will feel like a short trip. No matter how far we have to go, no matter how many obstacles lie ahead, we are happy as long as we can walk together.

Suppose you have received a long letter from your loving family or someone else you love. Would you complain, “Why did they write all these things, instead of just summarizing their main points briefly”? Although the letter is ten or twenty pages long, you will read it excitedly. Whatever you do, you don’t feel bored if you do it with your loved ones; you are always full of joy and happiness when you talk to them, sing together, and do anything else.

Granting the request of someone you love is a joy in itself. What if a wife asks her husband to buy a delicious cake for her on his way back home? He will willingly grant the request of his loving wife; if he forgets to buy it and remembers when he is almost home, he will go all the way back to get it, right? Although he is very tired from work, he will do whatever his wife wants, as long as he loves her.

God, whom we love, is walking with us on our gospel journey toward the eternal Kingdom of Heaven. Let us reflect on ourselves to see what kind of mindset we have when we walk this path. We need to examine ourselves to see whether we live a life full of excitement and happiness with love for God every day or we sometimes feel bored and tired.

Our life is never boring as long as we walk with our loving God. If we have love for God, we don’t get bored at all when listening to a sermon and when talking to God through prayer, though it lasts longer. We also find joy in praising and worshiping God. When we read the Bible, we regard it as a letter from our beloved God and receive it deep in our hearts, without adding to or taking away from it or distorting it. Our loving God has also entrusted us with the task of preaching the gospel (1 Th 2:4). So we will do it joyfully in any and every situation.

The Israelites did not love God

God walked with the Israelites 3,500 years ago. Until they entered Canaan after coming out of Egypt and reaching the desert, God led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and whenever they were faced with a difficult situation, He defeated their enemies. He also sent down a spiritual food called manna from heaven for them. By showing these wondrous works to them, He always reminded them that He was with them.

The Israelites were able to witness the presence of God while seeing the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire over the tabernacle. However, they just felt bored with life in the desert. They poured out complaints: “Why does it take us so long to enter the land of Canaan?” “Why should we keep returning by the way we came?” Their journey would have felt shorter if they had loved God and walked with God. However, they didn’t have love for God in their hearts. Complaining all the time, they worshiped idols and did many other things God hated, and as a result they were destroyed in the end.

1 Co 10:1–7, 10–11 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink . . . Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were . . . And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

The Israelites walked with God, but they did not love Him. So, they just kept complaining during their 40-year journey through the wilderness; they grumbled about a lack of water and a lack of food.

However, Joshua and Caleb were different from them. Since Joshua and Caleb had love for God in their hearts, they never felt bored on their desert journey and always obeyed God with faith, so they could enter the land of Canaan in the end (Nu 14:20–38).

Let us take a lesson from this history and look back at ourselves on the desert journey of faith. No matter how long our journey is, it feels shorter when we walk with our beloved one. If our journey feels like a long journey, we need to fill our hearts with love for God first.

Walking with our beloved God

2,000 years ago, Jesus appeared to Peter after His resurrection and asked him, “Do you truly love me?”

Jn 21:15–18 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep . . .”

Jesus asked Peter, who had denied Him three times, if he loved Him three times. Then Peter said, “Yes, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “If you love me, feed my sheep.”

Then Peter put his whole heart and soul into taking care of God’s people—His sheep, because it was a request from God whom he loved. When he was sentenced to death by crucifixion under persecution by the Roman Emperor Nero, he requested to be crucified upside down. It’s because he, being a sinner, felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus. He loved Jesus so much.

We, too, must have this kind of sincere love for God and walk the path of the gospel that our forefathers of faith walked. God has also asked us to preach the gospel to Samaria and even to the ends of the earth.

Ac 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Preaching is a holy command of love, which our loving God has given us. It is something we ought to do, as requested by God. If we still hesitate to preach the gospel, using our circumstances as an excuse, or do not feel joy in doing the gospel work, we need to reform our faith and quickly fill ourselves with the oil of faith. If we truly love God, we must be able to joyfully do whatever God has asked us to.

The reason Jesus told us to love God

Love for God is the most important mindset that gospel preachers must have. To love God with all our heart, soul, and mind is the first and greatest commandment, just as Jesus said.

Mt 22:35–40 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Do you think God has given us this command because He needs our love? Certainly not! God is the owner of the whole universe, and He is in need of nothing and does not need to receive love from people living on the earth like dust, right? Actually, no matter how much we love God, it doesn’t affect God at all. However, if we do not love God, our eyes cannot help but turn toward the path of death. It’s because Satan always deludes us into believing that there are joy, happiness, and pleasure on that path.

God is worried that we might slip into hell, a place of eternal punishment, and He has given us the command to “love God” for our salvation. If we love God, we will try not to do what God hates and will ultimately avoid going to hell. So Jesus told us to love God above all else. According to Jesus, all the Law and the Prophets hang on the first commandment, which is the most fundamental and essential precondition for our salvation.

1 Co 2:9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” . . .

God’s love for us is so great. God loves us to the point of giving up His glorious throne in Heaven and laying down His life for us. Through the teachings of the Bible, let us always remind ourselves how greatly God loves us and also reflect on ourselves to see how much we love God now.

The world God has prepared for us, His beloved children, is a wonderful place which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived. To give us the crown of glory in the brilliant Kingdom of Heaven, God has covered up all the transgressions of His children who sinned in Heaven and were cast down to this earth, and He has opened the way for us to go back to Heaven, our eternal home. If we keep the love for God in our hearts, God will open all doors for us.

Let us love God sincerely

This happened in the time of Solomon—the third king of Israel. Two women claimed to be the mother of a child. Solomon gave an order to cut the baby in two and give half to one and half to the other. Then one of them said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!” but the other said, “Please give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” By their actions, he was able to discern which one was the true mother who loved her child sincerely (1 Ki 3:16–28).

Love shows itself in action. God distinguishes those who truly love Him from those who do not love Him, through their actions. Let us examine ourselves to see if we do everything with love for God—if we joyfully study God’s word and if we take delight in finding our lost brothers and sisters, following the path of God.

Joshua and Caleb, who walked their desert journey 3,500 years ago, did not just know God but loved Him. Since God, whom they loved, was in their hearts, they never felt bored during their 40-year journey through the barren wilderness. They joyfully carried out whatever God had commanded them and put the word of God above all else. As a result, they received the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey.

We, too, must have the same kind of faith as we walk with the Spirit and the Bride in this age. Even in difficult times, let us give thanks to our Elohim and always fill ourselves with peace and joy in our life of faith. Let us preach joyfully, study God’s word joyfully, pray joyfully, and share brotherly love joyfully, so the sound of joy and singing will never cease in Zion, as prophesied in the Bible (Isa 51:3). I earnestly ask all of you, our heavenly family members in Zion, to keep in mind the great will of God who has given us the command to “love God.” Let us all love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, so we can be worthy enough to enter the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.