Love for God

Love FOR God

Tozer speaks of 3 kinds of love FOR God

In summary:-

Tozer speaks of 2 kinds of love FOR God which are usually quoted. They are:-

First Type: Love that comes out of GRATITUDE FOR GOD.  “I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications,” and “We love him, because he first loved us.”  Ps. 116:1 and I John 4:19  This is basic, elementary kind of love that actually has self in focus. It is a love stemming from the benefits received.

Second Type: Love that comes out of admiration of excellence. Focus is less on self. It is a love driven by admiration. Here it is admiration of God's power, knowledge, might, love etc. We love BECAUSE of all that He is. It's a love BECAUSE of something.

 Tozer explicates that there is yet  another level of love FOR God. An analogy  of a mother of  a special-needs child  is drawn.

He says , “The child excites no gratitude in her breast, for all the benefits have flowed the other way; the helpless infant has been nothing but a burden from the time it was born.”   The child will not be growing up to speak and act in gratitude. “Neither can the mother find in such a child any excellence to admire, for there is none.”    No good grades or excellent piano playing or great physical abilities. This is a child who simply just lies there.

Yet mother loves the child immensely and with great intensity.  They are bonded emotionally.  It is  “the union achieved by hearts; more beautiful than anything that can be experienced by flesh and blood.”

In Type 3 love, there is no element of gratitude or admiration and no element of I "love because"

The third kind of love is simply  "I love because I just do"

Can we love Him like this?