"If you love Me, keep My
commandments.
John 14:15 NKJV
Most of us have, at one time or another experienced
the joy that comes from knowing someone loves us. I am equally sure that most of us would agree
that there is no greater feeling than to know someone cares about us in a
loving way. Just this weekend I was
doing some house cleaning and came upon an envelope in which I had placed many
of the little notes that I received over the years from all three of my
daughters. The notes were written on
different occasions, mostly when I had to travel for different reasons, but
they all had one thing in common and that was that they all expressed their
love for me.As I sat and thought about those years, I began to remember all the little things that they had done as they were growing up in order to show their love for me. Some were big, some were small, but the one thing they all had in common was that whatever it was, it was demonstrative. In other words, they were not content to just say they loved me, but rather they wanted to show me they did by doing something they knew I would enjoy. I think it would be fair to say we would all agree that when we truly love someone it is a natural desire to want to do something in order to show that person just how much we care. It also stands to reason that we would seek to know the person well enough to give them something we know they would want and enjoy.
Obviously as believers we should have the
desire to demonstrate our love for our Heavenly Father in ways that we know
would please Him. In the passage above
from the book of John, Jesus tells us just what God wants from those who claim
to love Him, and that is obedience to His Word.
In this chapter, as well as the next, Jesus repeatedly explains that
what God wants most, and expects, is that those who claim to love Him follow
His commandments.
"He who has My commandments and keeps
them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father,
and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." John 14:21 NKJV
Jesus makes it clear that the proof of our love
for the Father is the desire to please Him by knowing and following His
commandments. So how logical does it
seem that many today believe the greatest threat to the Church is the attack on
the authority of the Scriptures? It
should come as no surprise considering we are shown exactly how Satan works by
looking at what happened in the Garden of Eden.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any
beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman,
"Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the
garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of
the trees of the garden; "but of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the
midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch
it, lest you die.' "Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not
surely die. Genesis 3:1-4
NKJV
In other words, God said it, but He really
didn’t mean it? How often today do we
hear those same words or something similar when the Word of God commands a
certain course of action which the world may find objectionable? More and more today we see examples of the Church
compromising on certain commandments we find in the Word in order to be “politically
correct”. As believers though, the question
the Church should be asking is simply this; “do you really love Him”? If you truly love someone your concern is how
best to show them your love in a way that they would appreciate. When it comes to our relationship with God,
He has already made it clear how best to please Him.
"If you keep My commandments, you will
abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His
love. John
15:10 NKJV
I think the key word in this passage, and the
answer to how best know what God expects is contained in the word “abide”. In the Greek the word is meno which means to sojourn, abide in or tarry, or continue to be
present. In other words, by striving to
keep God’s commandments we are pleasing Him, and as a result are able to live
our lives in a relationship with our Father in which He can manifest His love
for us just as we do for Him. I like how
David describes the relationship we can have with our Father if we seek to
please Him in this way.
ALEPH. Blessed [are] the undefiled in the
way, Who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed [are] those who keep His
testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; They
walk in His ways. You have commanded [us] To keep Your precepts diligently. Oh,
that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed,
When I look into all Your commandments. Psalms
119:1-6 NKJV
Do you really love Him? Are you trying to please Him, or please
yourself? You see, that is what it
really all comes down to. We either do
what we know is pleasing to God, or we choose to do what pleases us. My daughters looked for ways to make me
happy, either by writing little notes or doing things for me they knew I would
like. That was their way of showing me
they loved me. Are you looking for ways
to show God you love Him? You do that by
studying His Word and keeping His commandments.
"But
why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say? Luke 6:46
NKJV
Keep watching.
