“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. Like many parents, over the years I have
saved many of the little notes that I received over the years from all three of
my daughters. The notes were written on
different occasions, and some are long while others are just short sentences,
but they all had one thing in common and that was that they all expressed their
love for me. I do, in fact, have a
sticky note from my youngest daughter on my computer that she wrote just a few
weeks ago which says she loves me, and she is now in her thirties.
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 know God
in such a way as to demonstrate our love for Him in ways that we know would
please Him. We do that by studying His
Word and developing our relationship with Him in order to know Him better. 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 shouldn’t come as a
surprise considering we are shown exactly how Satan works by looking at what
happened in the Garden of Eden when the world is introduced to the deceiver for
the very first time. How does he choose
to attack? His intent is to always try
to create doubt about the very Word of God.
“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”,
or simply ignoring the facts presented in the Word and creating a god which
fits their own desires and beliefs. 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
If you have never made the choice to enter into a
relationship with Jesus Christ, and question where you may spend eternity, may
I encourage you to pray to Him today and confess your sins, ask Him to come
into your life, and begin to experience a life filled with the joy which comes
from trying to please Him.. Simply pray the following prayer;
Jesus I know I
am a sinner. I have sinned against you, but I know you loved me enough to send
your Son, Jesus Christ to die for my sins and then rise from the dead so that I
may live forever with You. Lord forgive me of my sins and come into my life and
help me to begin to live for You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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