Q:   Is it possible to learn to love God, or is it a gift from above? What should you do if you feel incapable of love?

A.  I really appreciate your question, and I want to encourage you that we can’t depend on our emotions. We have to depend on what the Bible says, to trust that what’s in it is true.

I remember many years ago, Rick and I were in a certain church where all the sermons were about salvation. Every Sunday, it was just, “Be saved! Be saved! Be saved!” 

Of course, we do need to be saved, but as I was hearing that call every single week, in my sensitive little heart, I started thinking, “Maybe I’m not saved.”

On top of the repetition, the pastor would sometimes give examples of people who thought they were saved, but they really weren’t, and after hearing that for a while, I just had to say, “Lord, if I’m not saved, I don’t know what to do.”

Those were my feelings about my salvation, but friend, they were not the truth. 

Think about what it says in 1 John 5:13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

What I want you to see about this verse is that it doesn’t say anything about emotions or feelings. It only talks about these things that are written. It even tells us why they have been written: “that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Friend, God doesn’t want us guessing about if we have eternal life, so He tells us very clearly and directly through the Bible. When we look in His Word, we get to see what’s really true, even when our feelings don’t match it.

I’m telling you all this because I want you to understand that even if you don’t feel like you’re able to love God or pursue Him, that’s not what the Bible says. Actually, it sounds to me like you really are hungry for God, because you’re asking this question.

So what you need to be doing is finding scriptures and resources that will tell you the truth about who you are in God. Be encouraged that you can trust in that truth instead of in your feelings.