There is nothing besides good deeds that you can do that can wash the bad.
I know you mention 'love' for God.
This is good for anyone to start at, but God doesn't wait for us or sit there waiting to be loved.
Because I don't think that the love we know about is good enough to even describe the feeling for God.
Don't get me wrong, GOD is huge and immense 'love'. but this love is not like the love we know of. You see, we are in a world of dualties, where we have good-bad, on-off, light-dark,...etc..
So, the love we know of is the opposite of hate, ie love-hate duality.
BUT this is NOT the God Love.
God love has no opposite or opposing affection.
This 'love' is much different and huge and cannot be compared as an opposite to hate.
Your comment about having love for the lord is not wrong in anyway but there are some people that think they are in harmony even though they may commit sin after sin. Because they deeply believe that they 'love' the lord, as they have this determined and forced 'love' for him.
Therefore, they feel their sins are not wrong because they are kind of counterbalanced with all the love they have.!!!! (crazy- but true)
My advice is that you don't try and love God, but you acknowledge his being, accept his hukam, accept that there is NO you on your own, accept that it is ALL him.
Then all you should do is try and get closer to God by trying to be in harmony with the whole of creation.
You will soon enough find that a 'special love' begins to form, and this is also a more permanent love from our worldly one.
I cannot describe it any more, but you will know what this is exactly when it happens.
It comes on it's own accord when you start chipping away at the self made barriers that we ourselves have created.
This special love is not something you attain or add to your self- it is already there, but it needs to come out by the process of stripping away your ego,desires and attachments. (naam simran can help some of us to achieve this).
Once you start stripping the dirt off the jewel, then the precious diamond makes itself visible and the beauty can be felt.
Just get close and try to stay connected, then everything will just follow..
:sippingcoffeemunda: