“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 NKJV)

It  is very easy for someone  to say: “I love Jesus.” But how can you tell if that really is true? Jesus made it simple and clear. He said in essence, “If you love me, you will do what I ask you to do.” Genuine obedience to the Lord is born out of love for Him! If we love Him, obedience is not hard because we know that whatever He asks us to do is because of His great love for us!   He always has our best interest in mind.

 Therefore, we seek to honor Him, not out of duty or coercion but because of our love for Him. We love Him because of what He has done for us (1 John 4:19).  Jesus has redeemed us by His own blood (Col. 1:14). He has forgiven us and made us sons and daughters of His royal family (Gal. 4:6-7).  He came to us when were totally bankrupted by sin and gave us the wealth of His mercy, forgiveness, grace and love! He gave us His very own righteousness (Rom. 3: 21-22).  And if that were not enough, He gave us eternal life (John 11: 25-26). The power of  sin and death was broken by His resurrection and no longer has a claim upon us (Col. 2: 13-15). It is absolutely amazing! And He did all of this out of His great love for us. He did that for us before we even knew Who He was (Rom. 5:8). How could anyone truly know that not love Him?

Therefore if we truly love Jesus , we will want to honor Him! We will not want to do anything to bring a reproach upon His Name. We will not want to live in a way that would cause others to question whether or not we are a follower of Christ (1 Thess. 5:22).  If we love Him, there will be a consistency in our life that reflects Christ. The key word is consistency, not perfection!  No follower of Christ lives perfectly. But there will be, in spite of our failures at times, the willingness and the ability to get back up and keep following Him. When we love Him, He always empowers us to do that and whatever else  He wants us to do. 

James W. Black