The First Commandment is, “You shall have no other gods but me”, and the Catechism explains this by saying, “My duty towards God is to believe in him, to fear him, and to love him, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength…”. (1)

To believe in him

“To believe in him, to fear him, and to love him”.  As we grow up, the first thing we learn to do regarding God is to believe in him.  We believe that God exists; we have evidence of his existence all around us – the sun and the moon and the stars above, the trees and birds and flowers, and our own selves.  All of these things must have been planned and made by Someone, and that Someone we call God.  But merely to believe that there is a God who has made us is not enough.  As St James the Apostle says, “You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe – and shudder” (NRSV, 2:19).

To fear him

Attrition

So the next thing we do is to fear God, not because he is evil but because he hates evil, including the sins which we commit.  People often begin by being sorry for their sins and trying not to commit them because they are afraid of going to Hell.  This sorrow which is caused by fear of God is called attrition.  It is enough, certainly, to save our souls, but is a poor thing if it does not go any further than that.

Grudging service

For fear puts self first and does as little for God as possible.  People who obey God only because they are afraid of going to Hell if they don’t, will do the least for God that they think they can get away with.  They will grudge the time they give to God in their prayers or in church, or in doing Church work; they will grudge the money they give in the collection; and when they keep themselves from committing some sin, they will even grudge that because they think to themselves that, if it were not for God, they would be able to commit it.  And, of course, all the time they think of God like that, as a harsh Master, and of themselves as unwilling servants, their religion will have no joy in it at all.

To love him

Contrition

But as soon as people begin to love God, things will be completely different.  Whereas before they were sorry for their sins because they were afraid of going to Hell, now they are sorry for them just because they love God and their sins displease God.  This sorrow, caused by love of God, is called contrition.

Loving, joyful service

Now they will try hard not to sin because they cannot bear to do anything displeasing to God.  Now they cannot do too much for God, and whatever they do will seem as nothing at all.  All they want is to please God, and the more they love God, the more generous they will be to God with their time and money and work.  And everything they do for God will be done gladly, and their religion will be a joy to them because God is a joy to them.  There we have the difference between love and fear.  “Love does not serve God because He is terrible, but because He is good; love does not fear Him as a Master, but loves Him as a Father”. (2) As St John tells us, “…perfect love casts out fear…” (NRSV, 1 John 4:18).  And so, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, instead of obeying God as fearful slaves, we can have the glorious freedom to serve and obey him as his loving children.

Reverence

As we learn to love God, our fear of God changes into reverence which will be shown by the way we think and speak of him, the way we behave in his House, the way we say our prayers and make our Communion, until, as our love for God grows, the very idea of irreverence will seem impossible.

There is one thing more than anything else which can arouse our love for God, and that is the Crucifixion.  For the Crucifixion shows how much God loves us to die like that for us.  So St John says, “We love because he first loved us” (NRSV, 1 John 4:19).

It is all summed up in the hymn, ‘My God I love thee’ (3)

SUMMARY

1. We begin by believing in God.

2. Then we fear God because he hates evil, and we try not to sin because we are afraid of going to Hell.

3. After that we learn to love God because he is so good, and we keep from sin because we cannot bear to displease him.  Love puts God first, and we cannot do too much for him.

References

1. Church of England (1662) The Book of Common Prayer.  A Catechism.  Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/catechism.html  (Accessed 19 August 2010) (Internet).

2. Grou, J. (1952) Manual for interior souls, London: Burnes Oates and Washbourne Ltd

3. Caswall, E. (1849) Translation of 17th century Latin words, My God I love thee.  Available from: http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/m/m115.html  (Accessed 19 August 2010) (Internet).