Catechism Corner | I Am to Love God by Loving His Word

Love is complex, meaning that love involves many things. Classically speaking, our human faculties are made up of the mind, the will, and the affections. Using these, then, love is rooted in knowledge; love is exercised in willful decision; and love is experienced in the affections. To love someone involves all of this. To love someone means that you also love the things about someone. This is most true of our love for God. We love Him, and that leads us to love everything about Him. One of those things is His Word. To love God is to love his Word. As Psalm 119 says, "Oh how I love your law!" (v. 97). Because the Word is the means that God uses to speak to us, we need to love it and use it.

I am to love God by loving His Word. Therefore, it is my duty to read it. Just as we give presents because we love someone, and they open it in reciprocal love and gratitude, so too has God shown His love for His people by giving us the gift of His Word. Show him you love him by reading his Word. Scripture explains that we do this in three ways.

Publicly

We love God by loving His Word read publicly. This was done in the ancient Jewish synagogue, as evidenced by Jesus' entering the synagogue and performing the appointed reading from the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4:16–24). This was done in the ancient Christian church, as evidenced by Paul's words (1 Thess. 5:27; Col. 4:16). This continued in the ancient church. For example, Saint Justin Martyr said, "And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits" (First Apology, ch. 67). And Tertullian said, "We assemble to read our sacred writings … with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more steadfast" (Apology, ch. 39).

As a Family

We love God by loving His Word read as a family, if the Lord provides us with a family. Moses exhorted Israel, saying, "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (Deut. 6:6–7). This practice of the covenant people was experienced by Timothy: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings" (2 Tim. 3:14–15). Family Bible reading is necessary to propagate the Christian religion in our children. Is it any wonder when parents, especially fathers, are not taking the time to read the Word with their children? Ignorance of Scripture leads to ignorance of Christ.

Privately

We love God by loving His Word read privately. Psalm 1 speaks of the singular "man" (v. 1) who is blessed because "his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night" (v. 2). To read the Word and meditate upon the Word as a believer causes one to be like a well-watered and fruitful tree (v. 3). Psalm 119 is also the meditation of an individual believer: "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day" (v. 97, emphasis mine). Meditating on the Word makes one wise (v. 98), makes one godly (v. 101), and gives us a spiritual delight as the Word is "sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (v. 103).

I am to love God by loving His Word. Therefore, it is my delight to receive it. Ten times in the great Psalm 119 we read of the psalmist praising the Lord for receiving the Lord's Word, saying he "delights" in the Word (Ps. 119:14, 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 174). Why? Because the Word is the living Word of the Lord to us, His people. The psalmist also describes his delight in the Word in comparison to other delightful things. He compares the Word to gold and silver, saying in verse 72, "The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces" (cf. v. 127). He compares the Word to honey, saying in verse 103, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

If you love God, it is your duty to read the Word and your delight to receive it as the very Word of the true and living God.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.