3) A Godly Man is Fired with Love to God
3. A Godly Man is Fired with Love to God.
"I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy." Psalm 116:1
Faith and love are the two hinges on which all religion turns. A true saint is carried in that chariot, "the midst whereof is paved with love"
(Song 3:10). As faith enlivens, so love sweetens every duty. The sun mellows the fruit, so love mellows the services of religion, and gives them a better relish. A godly man is sick with love: "Lord, you know that I love you" (John 21:16). "Though, dear Savior, I denied you—yet it was for lack of strength, not for lack of love." God is the fountain and quintessence of goodness. His beauty and sweetness lay constraints of love upon a gracious heart. God is the saint's portion
(Psalm 119:57). And what more loved than a portion? "I would hate my own soul," says Augustine, "if I found it not loving God." A godly man loves God and therefore delights to be in his presence; he loves
God and therefore takes comfort in nothing without him. 'Have you seen him whom my soul loves?" (Song 3:3).
The pious soul loves God and therefore thirsts for him. The more he has of God, the more still he desires. A sip of the wine of the Spirit whets the appetite for more. The soul loves God and therefore rejoices to think "of his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:8). He loves him and therefore longs to be with him. Christ was in Paul's heart, and Paul would be in Christ's bosom (Phil. 1:23). When the soul is once like
God, it would gladly be with God. A gracious heart cries out, "O that I had wings, that I might fly away, and be with my love, Christ!" The bird desires to be out of the cage, though it is hung with pearl.
Such is the love a gracious soul has to God, that many waters cannot quench it. He loves a frowning God.