Genuine love for God comes from deep within the heart; it is a love that only exists on the basis of man’s knowledge of God. When someone’s heart completely turns toward God, then they have love for God, but that love is not necessarily pure and not necessarily complete. This is because there is still some distance between a person’s heart completely turning toward God and that person having a genuine understanding of God and a genuine adoration for Him. The way by which man achieves true love of God and comes to know God’s disposition is to turn his heart toward God. When man gives his true heart over to God, then he begins to enter into the experience of life. In this way, his disposition starts to change, his love for God gradually grows, and his knowledge of God also gradually increases. So, turning one’s heart to God is only the precondition for getting on the right track of life experience. When people place their hearts before God, they only have a heart of longing for Him but not of love for Him, because they do not have an understanding of Him. Even though in this circumstance they do have some love for Him, it is not spontaneous and it is not genuine. This is because anything that derives from man’s flesh is the product of emotion and does not come from genuine understanding. It is just a momentary impulse and it cannot result in long-lasting adoration. When people do not have an understanding of God, they can only love Him based on their own preferences and their individual notions; this type of love cannot be called spontaneous love, nor can it be called genuine love. A man’s heart may genuinely turn toward God, and be capable of thinking of God’s interests in everything, but if he has no understanding of God, he will not be capable of having genuinely spontaneous love. All that he will be able to do is fulfill some functions for the church or perform a bit of his duty, but he will do so without basis. The disposition of this kind of person is hard to change; such people either do not pursue the truth, or do not understand it. Even if a person entirely turns their heart toward God, it does not mean that their God-loving heart is completely pure, because those who have God in their hearts do not necessarily have love for God in their hearts. This concerns the distinction between someone who does or does not pursue understanding of God. Once a person has an understanding of Him, it shows that their heart has fully turned toward God, it shows that their genuine love for God in their heart is spontaneous. Only people of this kind have God in their hearts. Turning one’s heart toward God is a precondition for one’s getting onto the right track, for understanding God, and for achieving love of God. It is not a marker of completing one’s duty to love God, nor is it a marker of having genuine love for Him. The only way for someone to achieve genuine love of God is to turn their heart toward Him, which is also the first thing one ought to do as one of His creations. Those who love God are all people who pursue life, that is, people who pursue the truth and truly want God; they all have the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and have been moved by Him. They are all able to obtain God’s guidance.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Genuine Love for God Is Spontaneous