Why do we love and obey God? 1 Peter 1:17-25

We love and obey God because He is eternal and infinitely powerful (20,24)

God created time, the universe, and everything in it. Including you.

He exists eternally. He’s a REALLY BIG GOD

Therefore, we love and obey Him because He’s huge, and He cared enough to create you, even though God didn’t need to.

We love and obey God because He is a righteous judge. (17)

God created everything for a purpose, so He has a right to judge whether or not His creation is doing what was required.

Therefore, we try hard to love and obey God.

Unfortunately, you will inevitably fail.

We have a mountain of sin that has made a debt. Therefore, God is fully able to judge us.

We love and obey God because He loves. (18,23)

Because of ^, God loves.

In light of our sin, our desire to be better than God, our constant need to do everything our way, and our rejection of God, He came down and died for us.

Because of His immense power and the fact that God created us for a purpose that we regularly fail at, Jesus died and beat death to pay for the debt that we have for our rejection of God.

We love and obey God because He calls us to love (22)

Because of how powerful He is, because He is a righteous God, and because of His love for us, he calls us to love others.

1 John 4:19–20 NASB95

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

God’s amazing love brings us out of selfishness and allows us to love and obey Him, and to love others fully.

We are completely changed because of God, and that should influence how and who we love.

Questions:

Were any of the reasons that we love God surprising or difficult for you?

Why is God’s judgement a reason to love and obey Him?

How does God’s love for us enable us to love other people better?