The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1906-08-01
DO L LOVE GOD?
By Rev. ]. M. Holiday.
lis a point long to know,
Git it causes anxious tho't:
Do l love the Lord, or no?
Am L His, or am l not?

Am l His, L not?
Does not the verse of the hymn express your
thought, at times, when you have seriously faced
the duty to love God with all your heart and
soul, and mind, and strength? You freely admir-
the duty OF loving God Supremacy, and you have
the desire to discharge this supreme duty You
not only question whether you love God SUI
premey, but even doubt if you love Him at ALL
because you do not feel towards God as YOU do
towards dear friend Have YOU not felt that
you loved friend relation more than Won loved
God, because, try as you would you found it inn
possible to feel towards God as you are con-
scious you feel towards this friend or relation?
AND mas not your anxiety and anguish been in
creased because you are persuaded that not only
Is the feeling absent as towards God, but that If
should exist within you to a greater degree than
the feeling you have for the loved one ON eartha
Have you found such difficulty in your Christian
experience?
1t was my privilege recently to preach on this
SUBJECT am led to offer this brief paper be-
cause | have found from MANY who heard the
sermon that the difficulty is very common one
and since the treatment helped others, it is NV
nope that 1t may help those who my be troubled
with this problem
Judging from my own Individual experience.
the difficulty arises from misconception of the
meaning OF love-" and a substitution (possibly
unconscious) OF the feeling produced by love for
human being in the place of love for God Be-
cause OF your msconcepton of what "love" is,
conclude that because you have not the same
ieelng toward God which you have towards a
friend therefore you do not love God. AS
matter of fact, love for God cannot produce the
same feeling within your which is produced by
your love for your friend
The word Glove" means to desire, to breathe
alter Hence to love God means to desire God
10 love Him supremely is to desire Him supreme
~. 10 love Him with all your heart is to desire
Him with all your heart. To love Him with all
your soul, IS to desire Him with all your soul
1t is as impossible for you to have the same
ieeng towards God which you have towards a
human being, as it is to have the same feeling
towards truth which you have towards your
mother You love your mother very dearly; you
ueSlre her with all the tender love of your heart
1 on also love the truth; you desire truth with all
your heart-even more than you desire your
mother Your love for the truth is more intense
than your love for your mother Of the two
you hold the truth dearer. And yet your feeling
towards the truth is very different from your
Keeling towards your motherl So it is with your
rove Tor God 1t is supreme to all other loves
I on can truthfully say l desire Him more than
L desire any other creature-"My heart and my
mesh crieth out for the living God" Because
Nod is Spirit your love for Him produces a
very different feeling towards Him from the feel
ing begotten within you by your love for one of
nesh and blood. Do not expect your love for God
" bring forth the same feeling within you which
your love for human being brings forth. If you
no you will surely question whether you have
any love for God, and you will be sorely troubled
!" your Christian experience.
II you love God supremely you will find in
'a'oie proofs OF that love, as set forth in Scrip