Episode Details

This is episode 6 of our first series. Last time we talked about how important it is to obey the commands of Jesus.

Now you may say: “Well, I don’t always obey Jesus as well as I should, but I “love” Jesus.” But can we love Jesus if we do not obey his commands?

On that subject Jesus was very clear, If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15. Whoever has my commands an obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. John 14:21

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. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching: These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. John 14:23-24

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed the Father’s commands and remain in his love. John 15:9-10

The Apostle John, proclaiming what he had seen and what he had heard from Jesus, writes: We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:3-6. For this is love of God, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3

See also James 2:14-26

Disciplining programs often emphasize that the heart should follow the will, but that the will should never follow the heart in spiritual matters. Why is this so? The Prophet Jeremiah, said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Then he quotes God the Father, by saying: I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. Jeremiah 17:9-10.

The only way to show that we love Jesus is to obey his commands.