Do you love God, or do you use God?

When I join a church or engage in religious ritual only because my family does and I want to keep peace with my family, then I am using God.

When I worship how I want to worship because it makes me happy or fulfills me, but I haven’t read the Bible to learn whether God wants that kind of worship or not, then I am using God.

When I volunteer for or accept leadership roles in worship or in the church’s work out of ambition or a desire to “be somebody” or for financial gain, then I am using God.

When I read my Bible only to win an argument, prove a point, or display scholarship and intellect, then I am using God.

When I take up religious or spiritual pursuits only to please someone I’m dating, then I am using God.

When I am hurt, or afraid, or anxious, and I reach out to God for help although I have not thought of Him previously and will revert to my old ways when the storm passes, then I am using God.

But…

When I am loyal to God whether my life is happy or tragic, then I am loving God.

When I prioritize my relationship with God even if it costs me other relationships, then I am loving God.

When I read my Bible to know God more fully, to adapt my life to His will, and to help others know Him, then I am loving God.

When I rejoice as I see others lead where I cannot, others are chosen as I am forgotten, or I serve with great personal sacrifice only for the good it will do others, then I am loving God.

When I worship God only in the way He has asked, never adding to or taking away from Biblical worship, and I trust Him enough to know that I will find fulfillment if I put Him above all else, then I am loving God.

When I join Christians who want to be Christians only, who use the Bible as their only standard and guide, who are humbly serving God His way, regardless of what my family and friends do, then I am loving God.

Do you love God, or do you use God?

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3.17)

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1.17)