Love naturally leads to obedience, or it should.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jn 14:15 ESV
I will say it again: “If you love me, you WILL keep my commandments.” Now our focus can be this growing, amazing relationship we have with God, instead of following rules and regulations. After all, we are not supposed to follow anything or anyone but Jesus! Remember we are Christians, not “rule-ians”? If we focus our time, energy and heart on loving Jesus, then the rest will flow from that love. The motivation to obey is love, but the way we obey is by becoming one with Him, because we love Him. What does that mean? It means learning to view life from His eternal perspective instead of our own very small viewpoint. It means trusting Him, especially when things do not seem to be going the way we had hoped. It means living our lives according to who He has created us to be, instead of trying to come up with our own reality. It means loving Him.
Think about a marriage. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” That’s Genesis 2:24. Right there, in the beginning of the story of Humanity, God gives us a wonderful example of what our relationship should be with Him. We leave this world behind, and we begin to become one with God. We stop living by “I think, I feel, I want,” and we start seeking what God thinks, feels and wants. It is that Gethsemane Moment I have talked about before, where with every decision, we choose: not my will, but Yours be done. This takes growth. This takes lots and lots of patience. This takes making loving Jesus more important than anything, and everything else in this life. Are we willing to do this? Well, wasn’t Jesus willing to do it for us? No guilt here (Ro 8:1)…let’s keep talking tomorrow…
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
26- Jas 2:19
27- Dt 31:8
28- Jn 14:15
<>< Peace, Diane
