Love and Obedience

Love and Obedience

John 14:23: Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

You don't hear mention too much about the second part of this quote. Today we all hear about LOVE and PEACE and BLESSING. But Jesus make a bold statement in this quote in John by giving us an IF...THEN statement which I believe we gloss over way too quickly.

Jesus is making a very hard point plainly here. IF you LOVE HIM....THEN you will OBEY HIM. How does that sit with you? If you are like me, I hang my head in shame sometimes. Because I KNOW my obedience needs work. Oh, I thought my LOVE was all right, but Jesus took that and shook it upside down like an etch-a-sketch! The slate has been erased. Let's all start from square one, shall we?

What does love have to do with obedience? What does love NOT have to do with obedience? Love is all about obedience. If we LOVE, then we must be doing the things that JESUS wants us to do. Read the New Testament. Jesus has given his disciples a whole boat load of things he wants done. What are those you ask? Well, lets see...off the top of my head...

1) Take care of Children. (Mt. 10:42)

2) Bear good fruit (Mt. 7:16ff)

3) Take care of the less fortunate (Mk 9:40ff; Lk 10:25-37)

4) Go (Mt 28:18-20)

5) Make Disciples (Mt 28:18-20)

6) Teaching them (Mt 28:18-20)

7 to...OBEY (Mt 28:18-20)

There are tons of Scripture references where Jesus puts the cross hairs directly on our obedience. So the next time you are examining your faith. Don't just examine your LOVE, also examine your OBEDIENCE. Make course corrections now if you need to, but do not miss this point.

Blessings All!

--EDL