What God Loves

Knowing what God is like leads to a deeper question: what does He love? Scripture does not present a distant Creator but a God who desires to be known, who delights in mercy, justice and righteousness, who seeks the lost and rejoices over their return. The heart of God is revealed in what He loves, what He delights in and what He opposes. To know His heart is to be drawn into His ways, until the disciple increasingly learns to love what God loves and to grieve what grieves Him.

From His Heart to Ours

The study begins with God’s desire to be known, then gathers what Scripture says He delights in: lovingkindness, justice, righteousness and mercy. It traces His desires toward people—repentance and life, covenant love, wholehearted devotion, sincerity rather than empty ritual, favour toward the humble and compassion for the weak—and then His seeking of the lost, His joy over restoration, His opposition to evil and injustice, and His purpose to dwell with His people. In Jesus Christ the Father’s heart is seen in a human life: He receives sinners, touches the untouchable and weeps over a city that would not come to Him. By the Spirit that same compassion, holiness and love begin to take shape in His people, reaching toward the nations and bearing patiently with others. Here the focus remains on what Scripture reveals God loves and desires, distinct from the unfolding of His purposes.

Topics in this study

1. God Desires to Be Known
2. God Delights in Lovingkindness, Justice, and Righteousness
3. God Delights in Mercy
4. God Desires Repentance and Life
5. God Loves His People
6. God Desires Wholehearted Love
7. Mercy Rather Than Empty Ritual
8. God Regards the Humble
9. Compassion Toward Human Weakness
10. God Seeks the Lost
11. God Rejoices Over Restoration
12. God Opposes Evil and Injustice
13. God Desires Fellowship
14. Reflecting God’s Heart
15. God’s Heart Toward the Nations
16. God’s Patience and Longsuffering