Why does God want us to love Him?

I had a friend ask my thoughts on this question, "Why does God want us to love Him?"
Not an easy question! But here are a few things to consider...

A while ago I was sitting and a thought occurred to me...what does God get out of all of this anyways??? By "this" I mean life, earth, people, the cosmos, whatever else...was He bored and we're like a complex Lego set He put together to pass the time?

Although He stands outside of time...hmmm.

So His decision was this? Us? And mountains, and rattlesnakes, and the Pacific ocean, and starfish? Seems like man is a serious pain, an obstacle to nature's flow...

And what about Satan? If we believe in God's ability to triumph over evil, why not now? Or even better, why not then? Why didn't God just destroy evil when it first emerged?

And why did God sacrifice His Son for this? For us? If He stands outside of time and saw all of this coming, why didn't he change the course of events? If He loves us, and Jesus, and hates evil then why didn't He spare Himself and Jesus the pain?

It seems like one question just creates another.

I don't qualify as a teacher, preacher, theologian, or bible-school graduate, so with all my disclaimers out of the way, here are my thoughts.

What does God get?
Deuteronomy 32 contains the "Song of Moses" given to Moses by the Lord prior to his death. It addresses many things regarding the nation of Israel, but check out what it says in verse 9.
"For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance."
So what does God get out of all of this? Us. We are His portion. We are His inheritance.

I believe God is a demonstrating God. I also believe that everything that He has created points back to Him as Creator. (Romans 1:20) Therefore the sun tells us something about God. And so does a mountain. And a starfish. And even a rattlesnake. So then what about us as humans...what do we reflect about our Creator?

I believe that one of our our unique qualities is the ability to love. He set love inside of us, He loved us first, and as we choose to love Him and each other we reflect Him. (1 John 4:7-21)

Why not eliminate evil?
To make a choice infers that another option is available. Which is my thought about why evil was not obliterated instantly. As we are affronted by evil, we may make the choice to love.

Why was Jesus sent?
Why not some other method? While I realize that scholars can argue about the "laws" that God set up and the sacrifices "required" and what God was, in essence, "forced" to do to redeem mankind....I don't really believe any of that. Here's the thing, I believe God is sovereign and stands outside of time and therefore He can do what He wants, when, and how He wants. Yes, I believe that He will not violate His principles. But I also believe those principles and laws were created knowing everything that would ever take place on the earth.

I also believe that He could decide to end or radically transform the human race, cause huge bugs to rule over us, or convert us into large gummy bears...SO then why would He subject Himself and His Son to the pain of the cross? Because He is a demonstrating God. Because through the act of the cross God showed us and all of creation the lengths to which He would go to redeem humanity. Without a demonstration, it is just a theory. It took place, because He doesn't just tell us truth. He demonstrates truth. To us and to all of creation here and beyond. It's the ultimate love ACT.

So why does God want us to love Him?
Because we are His creation. Every act of God points back to Himself. The universe learns about God as it watches Him demonstrate His love toward us and sees our choice to love Him in return.

Ummmm so yeah, that's the best I've got!