One, because your heart yearns to be loved by God.
Two, because you’ve been taught (or led to believe) that you need to earn God’s love. (Along with His favor, provision, etc.)

Now your desire to be loved by God? To be accepted for who you are? To have a close relationship with Him? Those are very good desires.
In fact, the Bible speaks of such longings for God:

In Psalm 63:1 (TPT), David says, “God of my life, I’m lovesick for you in this weary wilderness. I thirst with the deepest longings to love you more, with cravings in my heart that can’t be described. Such yearning grips my soul for you, my God!”

Friend, your desire for God’s love - and to have a close relationship with Him - are good, biblical desires!
But – what you’ve been led to believe about God’s character and, as a result, what He expects or requires from you is incorrect. It’s not biblical.
How can I state that so confidently? Because nowhere in the Bible does God call us to earn His love.
In fact, from cover to cover, it says the exact opposite.
Which is why nothing would please God more than for you to do the following two things.

Striving is where you’ve been living, right? Striving to please God and earn His love by:

This means that the weight has been all on you. Life has been all about what you’re doing (or not doing); how often; how well; how consistently; etc.
You’ve been desiring the right things: God’s love and a close relationship with Him. But unfortunately, you’ve been going about it the wrong way.
I’m not saying this to blame or shame you. Instead, I’m stating the truth to help free you.
Because here’s the thing, friend: When it comes to God’s love, it’s not about who you are or what you do. It’s about Who He is.
This is why understanding God’s true character is so important – and why my entire podcast is dedicated to it. Understanding God’s genuine, biblical character can only lead to freedom, hope, and healing (among other things).
We don’t have time to speak at length about God’s character in this post, but I do want to equip you with the following truths:

Firstly, God doesn’t just feel love – He actually is love. We know this because 1 John 4:8 (NLT) says, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” This means God and love are inseparable.
Secondly, God’s love is different from the broken love of the world. In fact, it’s perfect. 1 John 4:18 (NLT) says, “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”
Thirdly, God has loved you since before He created the world. Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT) says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
And lastly, as Romans 5:8 (NLT) tells us, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Notice that none of these verses contain words such as: earn, please, or good enough.
For example, Romans 5:8 doesn’t say something like: “When a certain percentage of people had become ‘good enough’ by doing X, Y, and Z, then God sent Jesus to die for us.”
If you’re not familiar with Jesus or what His death on the cross means, that’s okay. A lot of the women I’m called to serve are in that boat initially.
For now, I just want you to notice that the cause of God’s actions is His love for us - which is a key aspect of His character.
Friend, this is your permission slip to stop striving right here – right now!
Instead, focus on seeking God. In other words, learning about the genuine God of the Bible that your heart’s been yearning for.

When I say “results,” I’m talking about what you’ve been aiming for with all of that striving.
Such as:

Not sinning in a specific way or a certain amount
Completing a list of prescribed works (or tasks) within a certain timeframe or in a specific manner
How close you are to being “good enough” at any given moment

…All to earn God’s love and favor.
But as we just explored, you don’t need to earn God’s love. It already exists. It’s already accessible. You just weren’t aware of that truth.
So as you stop striving and start seeking, you’re free to focus on building a new relationship with God.
One based on the God that actually exists! The God your heart’s been yearning for underneath it all!
And you know what God wants the most? Not results, but relationship.
We see this throughout the Bible:

In Genesis, we see God walking in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. He’s not talking to them from a distance.
Throughout all 66 books of the Bible, there is one overarching story. And one of themes within that story is God continuing to pursue a relationship with us despite our sin or tendency to turn away from Him – even to the point of sending Jesus.
There are relational invitations such as Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) where Jesus says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Friend, God knows that what you’ve been carrying has been heavy. He longs for a relationship with you because He loves you. And also because He is the only source of true freedom, healing, and hope.
To help you get to know God - as He truly is - and build a relationship with Him, take my Decode God’s Love mini course.