Dear Friend,
Very recently the Holy Spirit hammered seriously on the issue of love and obedience in my life. I hope this post awakens your heart to matching your love for God with obedience to Him. God bless.
John 14:24, 31, 15, 21:
vs 15 “If you love me, obey my commandments."
vs 21 "Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
vs 24a "Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me."
vs 31 but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.
When something re-occurs in a particular chapter, it means it is indeed something that must not be played with. It is most definitely a matter that means much to Jesus. In the above named verses in John 14, Jesus talks to His disciples about love and obedience. He is seen stressing the fact that the proof of one's love is obedience.
Obedience is heavy proof of one's love for another. In this context however, Jesus speaks about our love for Him. He emphasizes that if we love Him, we would obey His commands (vs 15, 21, 24). When we do not obey Him, we automatically do not love Him (v 24). Now the issue is, why is this LOVE = OBEDIENCE thing so important?
In vs 21, we see that the revelation of Jesus is attached our love and obedience relationship. Jesus said that when we prove our love for Him by our obedience, He will reveal Himself to us because of course, He cannot reveal Himself to someone who does not love Him and revealing Himself means exposing to me what is on His heart, what He intends to do, and giving me an experience of His fullness. I don't think that's something I want to pass up on.
Secondly, in vs 31, there is a relationship that ties vs 15, 21, and 24 all together with vs 31. How so? In this verse, Jesus talks again about His future death. He speaks of how this death is what His Father requires of Him because it is proof that He indeed loves the Father. OBEDIENCE = LOVE. Now this struck me. All I could say was, 'Jesus, the perfect example.' Yes! Jesus our perfect example. Jesus did not speak of something strange in vs 15, 21, and 24. He spoke of something He was familiar with. Something He understood. Love, Obedience. His coming to earth in human form to die on the cross for the sins of the world was an act of obedience to God the Father. And of course, the proof of His love for the Father was His obedience to Him. Jesus never distanced His life from His teachings. He set the pace for us to follow. The Bible says He was obedient even unto death, death on a cross.
HE IS OUR PERFECT EXAMPLE OF LOVE AND OBEDIENCE.
It's easy to say I love God, but am I obeying Him? Genuine love equals obedience. Because Jesus chose to obey, we received salvation and the gift of eternal life. Because one man disobeyed in the garden of Eden as well, sin entered the world. Food for thought. My love for Jesus must carry weight. True love obeys.
#selah
Dear Lord,
Let my love for Your manifest in total obedience to Your commands. Thank You for setting the perfect example. Your obedience set me free. In Jesus' name, amen.
I hope you are blessed.
In Christ,
In Christ,
Shanpepe.
