If You Love Me…
John 14: 7-15
“If you love me, keep my commands.”
This statement seems contradictory to what “religion” may tell us. With any practice of faith, it will require you to give up some things. To reject a certain way of living and embrace the practices of what that religion instructs you to do. When it comes to Christianity, there is often the critique that it’s just about following rules. You have to check off the boxes of a spiritual person to be accepted by God or accepted by your peers. Jesus carries a different tone when it comes to following Him. Jesus doesn’t just ask us to give things up for the sake of religion but to love Him.
Jesus came to this earth and gave up His heavenly throne because of love. He lived in the brokenness of this world to show that He pursues and loves us. So, as He is speaking to Philip, one of the most faithful of His disciples, Jesus reminds him that love for Him and the Father should compel us to act in good works. Not just to follow the rules but to experience God.
I once heard a story of an officiant who was about to read off the vows to the bride and groom at a wedding. He looks at the groom and asks him to read the traditional wedding vows, “I, (Name), take you, (Name), to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy law, in the presence of God I make this vow”… Something of that sort.
The pastor then stops the ceremony and exhorts to the crowd, “This is the love of God! He promises His Bride to have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer… without any commitment from her. In fact, she could walk away from this ceremony right now, but that wouldn’t change the love the groom has for his bride.” Jesus has given us everything out of love; He gave us His own life without any type of commitment from us. He saw the weight of our sin and fulfilled God’s law through His death.
We keep the Father’s commands because of our love for Christ, not because of anything we receive in return. Jesus is after relationship, not the spiritual elitist or those who follow the rules. He wants your heart and the good news He has already given you his.
