“Love is an affection of the soul, not a contract: it cannot rise from a mere agreement, nor is it so to be gained. It is spontaneous in its origin and impulse; and true love is its own satisfaction.

It has its reward; but that reward is the object beloved. For whatever you seem to love, if it is on account of something else, what you do really love is that something else, not the apparent object of desire. St. Paul did not preach the Gospel that he might earn his bread; he ate that he might be strengthened for his ministry. What he loved was not bread, but the Gospel.

True love does not demand a reward, but it deserves one. Surely no one offers to pay for love; yet some recompense is due to one who loves, and if his love endures he will doubtless receive it.

On a lower plane of action, it is the reluctant, not the eager, whom we urge by promises of reward. Who would think of paying a man to do what he was yearning to do already? For instance no one would hire hungry man to eat, or a thirsty man to drink, or a mother to nurse her own child. Who would think of bribing a famer to dress his own vineyard, or to dig about his orchard, or to rebuild his house?

So, all the more, one who loves God truly asks no other recompense than God Himself; for if he should demand ANYTHING else it would be the prize that he loved and not God.”

–St. Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God

In loving God, are you seeking something else?

Blessings? Steady home life? Nice spouse, kids, family?

Excitement in seeing signs and wonders? Thrills in performing miracles?

Principles upon which to build your life? A way through the minefield of life?

To seek, desire, and/or demand these things means that it is them that you love and not Jesus…..