“If
you love Me, keep My commandments.” Better interpreted: “If you love Me you
will keep My commandments.” Our faithfulness to God is inexorably linked to our
love for God in this conditioned statement which is neither a command, request,
nor exhortation, but rather a statement of fact. Faithfulness to God is a
product of our love for God: “This is love,
that we walk according to His commandments.” Our obedience flows from and
demonstrates our love, and is directly proportional to our love. So, our struggle
with sin... disobedience... missing God’s mark, is a measure of our love for
God. The more we struggle the weaker our love.
“If
you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.” Abiding in God’s love is inexorably linked to
our faithfulness to God in this conditioned blessing. Abiding in God’s love is
a product of our obedience. “Abide’, the Greek meno, is a powerful word meaning
to dwell in, continually remain in... literally, to take up residence in the
love of God. Residing within the love of God will fertilize and grow our love
for Him – “We love Him because He first loved us” – which in return will
strengthen our faithfulness. “My commandments”, as spoken by the Lord, means
the commandments embodied in His words, and, by extension, in all New Testament
revelation birthed in our Lord’s ministry. This “IF” is a big IF, making
faithfulness essential to the day-to-day experience of God’s agape love
embracing our life. If we are adhering firmly and devotedly to God’s word we
can expect His love to lavishly overflow our hearts... awesome...
“For
this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Better interpreted:
“For this is the love for God, that we keep His commandments.” The very law of God’s being is love... this is the essence of
the gospel. Love -- the divine agape love produced in the heart of the
yielded saint by the Holy Spirit -- is what impels faithfulness to our Lord. As
we behold the Cross... the beacon of Christ’s love for us, the Holy Spirit
lavishly pours God’s divine love into our hungry heart, and we become His love,
reciprocating His love back to Him... fulfilling the first and greatest
commandment... Loving God. In His... now
our out flowing love we find strength for faithfulness becoming “more than
conquerors”, Agape-Dwellers abiding in His inseparable... immeasurable...
unconditional love.
In Summary: Our faithfulness
to God is a product of our love for God. Our love for God is manifested in our
obedience to His commandments. “Now the purpose of the commandment is love
from a pure heart.” God’s goal, and what should be our goal, is that we abide
in His love. Abiding in God’s love – continuing in a state of 24/7 love -- is a
product of our continual obedience. Disobedience – sin, missing God’s mark – is
then a measurement of how weak our love is for God.
LOVING
GOD IS NOT AN OPTION
(John
14:15; 15:10; 1John 4:19; 5:3; 2 John 1:6; 1 Tim. 1:5; Rom. 8:35-39)
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