The Love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

                “Lord, I want to love you; teach me to love you.”

But how can I love Him whom I see not, and in whose consciousness I am only growing into? Everything I have ever known seems normal and mundane. How can I possibly fathom how to love God who dwells above the heaven and the earth (Psalms 113:4)?

When I behold life, there is an unmissable desire for fairness in relationships, a need for perpetuity of purpose, and fleeting longings insatiable by momentary indulgences. I perceive undoing in my passions and desires. There is a problem of pain! Must that which inflicts pleasure be accompanied with pain?

Christ Jesus died for my sins and became the author of my salvation. For me and all who have believed in Him. As the Apostle Paul argues in Romans 5, people do not usually die for others. More scarcely does a righteous man die for those lost in their ways. Well then, what manner of love is this, then, that Christ would die for me? What is that which He perceived so that humiliation at the hands of men for whom He came to save, the descent into the underworld and the ultimate separation from the Father would all be despised?
What was in the mind of Christ when He sorrowed in Gethsemane, facing death, even crying to the Father for help? He was heard, but the will of the Father was to bruise Him and to make Him an offering for sin. This means Christ had to proceed in obedience, all the while suffering because of it. What glorious end did Christ behold that all seemed palatable to Him? What is the heart of God for humankind like me, that He descended into creation that He created, was humbled to take on mortality and corruption, and became constrained even to death?

Luke 7:40-42,47
⁴⁰And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. ⁴¹ There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. ⁴² And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? ⁴⁷ Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

So then, it seems that to love God and to comprehend his love toward me is to understand the depth of my debt, my depravity and the extent of my displacement from that which I recognise as always good, acceptable and perfect. When, in my perception, that to which I accord on his account is little, the less regard I will have for Him, and the less I will look to Him for sustenance and provision.
When I know that nothing in me is good, and that my thoughts continuously recede into rebellion, pride and eventual evil, then my dependence on the help of God will be unbroken.

Psalms 40:8
⁸ I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

I now recognise that only God works in me both to will and to do of His good will, that I may understand justice and judgement, righteousness, equity and every good path (Proverbs 2:9).

I will therefore delight myself in the will of God, to do that which was written of me in His eternal law, which is revealed, discerned and confirmed by the Spirit which has been given me by Jesus.

I will then understand that love must abound in knowledge – the knowledge of my depravity and debt to my perceived good and the height of God’s patience, love and humility in Christ Jesus – and in all judgement, which proceeds only from God’s throne (Psalms 89:14).

I will then delight myself in the commandment of God, in His statutes, judgements, testimonies and in His law. Then, I will walk in the path of life, with the Lord always set before me. In this will my heart rejoice, and my flesh will hope.