The thought
occurred to me today. What if
Jesus meant what He said? He said a lot.
A whole lot. And if He is God, then we should listen to what He said. If
He is our Lord, then we should listen to what He said. I want to go on a
journey of exploring what He said.
He is the Word and He is God.
I think what He said is worth exploring and worth living by.
The first
thing I want to look at is in John 14.
This will give the premise for the entire journey of seeking out what
Jesus said. Because if Jesus meant
this… then the rest of what He said is VERY important.
Jhn 14:15
"If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
Jhn 14:21
"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."
Jhn 14:23
Jesus answered and said to him, "If
anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will
come to him and make Our home with him.”
Jhn 14:31
"But that the world may know that I
love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us
go from here.”
Over and
over and over. Jesus tells us –
Keep My Commandments. And He isn’t just telling us we should because it’s a
good idea. He tells us that it is
a sign of our love for Him. “IF
you love Me.”
There are
many, many people who claim to love Jesus. Maybe you claim to love Him. Maybe you even consider yourself a Christian. Here’s the question that should cause
the fear of the Lord to come upon us.
Do we keep His commandments???
Do YOU keep His commandments? It is he who has the commandments and
keeps them that is the one who loves Him.
That brings a whole new definition to “I love Jesus.” Do you? Do you really?
Do you keep His commandments? THAT is the definition of loving Him.
I absolutely
love how the chapter ends. Jesus,
our great example of how to live, ends the lesson, by saying, (my paraphrase)
“Ok guys… I’ve told you to keep my commandments to show you love Me and the
Father. Now I’m going to
demonstrate to you and to the Father that I love Him. I’m going to obey the commandment He gave to me. I’m going to die. Let’s go from here. Let’s leave the upper room where we
just ate Passover, and let’s go to the garden. The very garden where I know I will be betrayed and have to go
to a cross to die. Let’s go so I
can demonstrate my love.”
THAT brings
a whole new definition to the obedience and love that Jesus requires of
us. An obedience and a love even
unto death. An obedience and love
that may be uncomfortable.
An obedience and love that may require our sweat, our pain, our
toil. But obedience demonstrates
our love to the God who made us.
I want to
know what He said. What if I lived
my life the way He meant for me to?
What if
Jesus meant what He said?
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