The Love of God

I've enjoyed studying the first presidency's messages in order. It's been insightful to see the common thread through all of them--LOVE.

"—if we truly learn to love our Heavenly Father and our fellowman with all our heart, soul, and mind—all else will fall into place."

Ah, there's the key to simplifying gospel living! It's not about our energy level as much as it's about our love level. I think we often get that backwards.

President Uchdoft says, . . ."there are so many “shoulds” and “should nots” that merely keeping track of them can be a challenge. Sometimes, well-meaning amplifications of divine principles—many coming from uninspired sources—complicate matters further, diluting the purity of divine truth with man-made addenda. One person’s good idea—something that may work for him or her—takes root and becomes an expectation. And gradually, eternal principles can get lost within the labyrinth of “good ideas.”

So often we try with all our energy to do all of the right things for all of the right reasons, and yet can't figure out why we're feeling so wrong about it. We have to do those things for the right reason. . .LOVE. Our heart has to be right. Sometimes in all of our righteous doings we forget to listen for the voice of the Lord.

This passage makes the commandment to love God so clear.

"No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!
For what we love determines what we seek.
What we seek determines what we think and do.
What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become."

All of the do's and the do not's in the Gospel are not some sort of spiritual checklist we can check off to qualify for eternal life. We have to allow those acts to work through us, to change us into celestial beings.

"Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely." I felt great comfort reading that even through I am incomplete & imperfect, God's love for me is complete & perfect. I'm still trying to comprehend this principle as it applies to how I love others; in theory, I can love perfectly the imperfect & unfinished people in my life. It's contrary to my current pattern of love. Thus far in my life, other peoples' behavior causes my love to vacillate. But now I'm learning that my love can be higher than that. I love the theory. But I confess, on a practical level I can't quite grasp how to get there.