What Does God Most Desire from Us?

We know how much God loves us. After all, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) But God did not merely “give” us His Son. God sent His perfect and beloved Son, who resided in Heaven, to a bloodthirsty mob for humiliation, torture, and crucifixion to atone for humanity’s sins. In light of this transcendent love, I am compelled to ask, “What can I give to You, Father? What is it that You most value from me?”

The Not So Simple Answer

The answer that I discern from the Bible is paradoxically straightforward and complex. I’ll do my best to unravel this puzzle. To begin, it stands to reason that what God most desires from us is tied to the commandment that Jesus specifically referred to as “great and foremost.” (Matthew 22:38) This commandment, referred to as the Greatest Commandment, requires that “[y]ou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) This is Jesus’s restatement of Deuteronomy 6:5, known as the Shema to the Hebrew people. This law requires complete internal devotion and loyal love to God. By these words the Lord makes crystal clear that what He most values from humanity is our utmost loyal love.

Fidelity Forgotten

The adjective “loyal” used in the foregoing two sentences is vital to understanding the full scope of the Greatest Commandment. Its inclusion in this article to describe the kind of love God desires from humanity is supported by the Koine Greek word pistis used by the biblical authors in the New Testament. Pistis is one of several critical words that act as a pillar of Christianity. The Apostle Paul uses this word in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith [pistis].” This word is so richly layered in meaning that to define it or map it to single English words is to invite misunderstanding. Unfortunately, this is what has happened in our English translations. Pistis is most often translated as the word faith and occasionally belief. However, neither of these English words accurately convey the full, blazing intent of the original Koine Greek pistis. Though this word often refers to “regarding something as true,” its essence is in allegiance, commitment, fidelity, and pledged loyalty. (See Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone, pp. 3-5.)

The essence of faith then is not the modern interpretation of merely believing the right things, but rather is about embodying and living out the soul-deep commitment that is intrinsic to the nature of our relationship with our Triune God. It is for this reason that scripture often equates this covenantal relationship with metaphors of marriage (e.g., Jesus Christ as the bridegroom and the Church as His bride) and the father/son relationship (e.g., the Parable of the Prodigal Son). In the same way that faithful spouses unceasingly prioritize the well-being of the other spouse and are exclusively loyal, so our covenantal relationship with God likewise demands that we remain devoted and loyal to God over all others, including the self. Though we modern Christians have drifted away from the fidelity component of faithfulness as it pertains to our Lord, He graciously reminds us of the full measure of faithfulness that we need to embody via the Greatest Commandment. 

The Bond of Allegiance

The issue of loving allegiance to God (and its opposite: rebellion) is no golden thread in the Bible. It is the very fabric of Christianity. The first moment that a person confesses that Jesus is their “Lord and Savior” is intrinsically an oath of allegiance no different from its use from time immemorial between a subject and his/her sovereign. Such is the mental image invoked by God in Isaiah 45:23: “[T]o Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.” Again, in Philippians 2:9-11, this oath is reinforced regarding Christ our king, “[A]t the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This testimony of allegiance is again referenced as a requirement of overcoming during the Tribulation. (Revelation 12:10-11) This devoted allegiance or utmost loyal love once identified, is impossible to ignore when reading scripture.

Jesus Models the Greatest Commandment

The epitome of this “utmost loyal love” for God is Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross. It is no accident that it represents the exact opposite of what Satan did with his prideful ambitions. Where Satan sought to exalt himself with a throne, Jesus voluntarily laid down His life for the love of His Father. In direct contrast to the entire angelic rebellion, Jesus stands as its antithesis. Whereas they were prideful and sought to ascend at the cost of loyalty to God, Jesus chose an agonizing death over dishonoring the Father. His sacrificial love and loyalty for God the Father—freely given under unspeakable suffering—serves as the model for every disciple who aspires to be a witness to creation of God’s glory, and not merely a recipient of His grace. It is for this reason that Jesus is the King of Kings and that the Apostles, martyrs, and overcomers will one day co-rule with Christ. They share in common the fulfillment of the Greatest Commandment: wholehearted devotion and loyalty to God, no matter the cost.

Too often we myopically focus on Jesus’s sacrifice in terms of humanity’s salvation and what it signifies about our intrinsic human worth. And while the Cross certainly does exemplify our intrinsic worth and salvation, what is most profound about Jesus’s sacrifice is not about humanity. The highest truth statement made by Jesus on the Cross is the infinite worth of God the Father whose goodness, love, and purity (which Jesus knew firsthand) allowed Him to fully place His trust in His Father even unto death. For those with eyes to see, Christ’s life and sacrificial death luminously testify that our own love and loyalty are well-placed in God the Father.

The Key to Fulfilling the Whole of God’s Will

Jesus’s life and death teach us yet more about the nature of God the Father. His celestial intellect is on full display in the Greatest Commandment. It is not merely one commandment among many; it is the key to fulfilling the whole of God’s will. In cultivating a spirit that preeminently loves God, we naturally love our neighbors as His image-bearers (the “Royal Law”), we seek first His kingdom and righteousness, (Matthew 6:33) and we seek to gather “the harvest” by fulfilling the Great Commission. (Matthew 28:19-20) For the one who loves God supremely cannot help but love others rightly, unrelentingly pursue His kingdom, and prioritize carrying His gospel to the ends of the earth. This is what is meant by 1 John 5:3, which declares, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

But there is one more critical lesson that Christ’s fulfillment of the Greatest Commandment by his life and death teach us. Loving God most is the ultimate antidote to overcoming the poison of temptation, sin, and evil. Whatever provocation to sin was laid before our Lord by Satan, Jesus overcame by steadfast love and devotion to the Father. Yes, knowing scripture was essential to Him in His wilderness temptations, but it was His supreme love for God the Father that enabled Him to choose hunger over satiation, obscurity over spectacular public acknowledgment of divine status, and humble servanthood over worldly dominion. Like our Savior, we can cultivate this preeminent love for God in order to overcome the darkness around us. 

How High Is the Standard?

Many people read the words of the Greatest Commandment and miss the significance of the word “all.” The inclusion of this word implies that the Lord desires us to set Him above everything else. Jesus clarified this by stating, “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37-39) This sentiment is again found in Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.” These verses make clear that Jesus intentionally addressed the hierarchies in our hearts, our souls, and our minds. God must be our raison d’tre. He must command our wholehearted and single-minded love, devotion and loyalty. 

Don’t Give God Second-Best

There is a concerning interpretation of the Greatest Commandment’s directive to preeminently love God as requiring mere obedience. However, defining love as obedience is irrational. Test it yourself: replace loves with obeys in Matthew 10:37-39 and replace hate with disobey in Luke 14:26 (these are the Bible verses in the last paragraph). The absurdity becomes clear. Though obedience is essential to the Christian life, it is not the full measure of love. We implicitly know this. Prison inmates obey the guards and warden, but there is no love there. No parent would be satisfied with their children if there was perfect obedience, but no heartfelt love. Consequently, obedience can be an expression of love, but is not love itself. Were this not the case, Jesus would not have told the church in Ephesus, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:2-4)

It makes no sense to take the concept of love—that humanity has implicitly understood for millennia to refer to the most profound and coveted of human gifts—and equivocate it to obedience. But even worse than this watering down of love’s meaning, is that this redefinition is only applied to what we give God. So any human can give and receive actual love, but God alone is relegated to this comparatively cold thing that has never held the infinite value of true love. The tragedy of this redefinition is that no one in the universe has loved us more than Him, nor is there one more worthy of our love than God.

There is an unmistakable pattern in modern life in which our culture has inverted what God has defined. Marriage, once the sacred union between a man and a woman, is now applicable to same‑sex couples. The rainbow, once a symbol of God’s mercy, is now a banner to laud homosexuality. Pride, an abhorrent sin, is now considered an exalted virtue. Tolerance once meant patience and understanding, but now means submission to anti-Christian beliefs. Justice, once measured by God’s own righteousness, gets recast as power plays and partiality rooted in group identity.

And now even love, that most precious component of God’s nature and blessing, reduced to obedience. My spirit grieves over what has been lost to the vicissitudes of modern language. To redefine love in this manner is to fail to understand the full scope of who God is, what He desires from His children, and what we need to overcome the temptation, sin, and evil of this lost and dying world.

Achieving the Impossible

Though the Greatest Commandment is seemingly straightforward, developing a heart, mind, and soul that loves the Lord preeminently as Jesus did requires far more than typically understood by modern humanity. But if the Greatest Commandment means that our Triune God most desires that we love Him more than everyone and everything on earth, even unto death, is this what He is actually getting?

I suspect that many of us have fallen short of this extraordinarily high standard. Under these circumstances, it is natural to ask oneself, “How can God expect me to love Him above all others when I can’t see Him, embrace Him, or even be certain that He is real?” It would appear to be unreasonable that God would even ask for something so seemingly impossible to achieve.

The Christian Journey

But God in His infinite wisdom has supplied us with all that is needed. The key to developing the steadfast love and devotion required to fulfill the Greatest Commandment lies in earnestly asking the Holy Spirit to nourish our hearts with the love of God. (Galatians 5:22) Our single greatest blessing on earth resides within us—the Holy Spirit, who guides us in truth and gifts us with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Through constant collaboration with the Holy Spirit, every child of God can journey the path from fear of the Lord to phile love (the Koine Greek version of “fraternal love,” as what the Apostle Peter had for Jesus at His arrest), and ultimately arrive at the agape love that fulfills the Greatest Commandment. It is an arduous journey of the kind echoed in the most resonant epic hero tales. It guarantees deep suffering and ruthless persecution, but this is exactly the point that God makes to Creation.

The Purpose of the Journey

Humanity is both the object of God’s infinite love (per Ephesians 1:4-5), but also—critically—the centerpiece of an ongoing object lesson, or living parable, to all created beings regarding what makes a created being worthy of dominion. To this end, God the Father has set dirt-formed humanity onto a cosmic stage. The audience of mighty angels know that we are blind to the reality of God. They watch with bated breath as we struggle in darkness through testing of immense pressure: pain, loss, hunger, defeat, malice, and evil.

Yet the conclusion is certain: the children of God will choose—incredibly—utmost loyalty to their Father. Though blind and bloodied, our allegiance to the Sovereign stands as a vivid rebuke to the fallen angels who once stood in His glorious presence, yet chose pride instead. By our lives and even our deaths, we demonstrate to the celestial realm that which they can only see in our actions: the conviction that God is worthy of absolute and unconditional devotion and loyalty. This is why life so often feels like an obstacle course; love and loyalty that cost nothing prove nothing. Just as warriors are forged in battle, so humanity is prepared for and considered worthy of eternal dominion alongside our Lord Jesus Christ.

Knowing this, let us each be as the “man in the arena” spoken of by Theodore Roosevelt. Let us endeavor to enter eternity with faces “marred by dust and sweat and blood” having spent ourselves following after Jesus in the worthy cause of glorifying our Heavenly Father.

Michele Le is a litigator who advocates for the strengthening of the Western Church. You can read her reflections on current political and social issues on the Substack: Of Serpents + Doves, where this essay was first printed, with the appropriate academic references to Ms. Le’s sources.