If You Love Me, Obey My Commandments
Jesus taught,”If you love me, obey my commandments.” Steph Beth Nickel explains what this passage of scriputre means, and how we can be obedient in God’s time and by His strength.
Obey My Commandments
John 14:15-21 (ESV) reads this way,
“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
John 14:15, “If you love me, obey my commandments” is the foundational verse for this series of devotionals.
While it’s important to examine God’s Word and learn His commandments, it’s vital that we remember we cannot walk in the kind of obedience apart from the strength God gives. Remember the story of the rich young man who came to Jesus? (You can read the full story in Matthew 19:16-30.) He was seeking to walk in obedience. In fact, he thought he was doing a good job of it. And yet, when Jesus challenged him to sell what he had, give the proceeds to the poor, then come follow Him, the man went away sad. His wealth was more important to him than truly following the Lord.
The Apostle Paul
The apostle Paul discovered too that apparent obedience was not what God wanted. Consider his words in Philippians 3. Verses 5-8 (ESV) read this way:
“Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
If anyone had a right to boast in human accomplishments, it was this man. And yet, before his encounter with Jesus Christ, he was persecuting Christians, thinking he was walking in obedience to God’s plans and purposes.”
It isn’t surprising that Jesus told His listeners that God would send the Holy Spirit in the same passage in which He spoke so much about obedience. It is only through divine revelation that we can truly understand what the Lord requires of us. And once we have that understanding, it is only in His strength that we can walk in obedience.
A Struggle With Anger
Let me tell you a quick story. When my children were young, I struggled with anger. It would bubble up inside of me like corrosive acid. And unfortunately, it would spill over and affect those I loved the most, my children and my husband.
I tried diligently to deal with the anger. I read books. I asked for prayer. I determined not to give in and explode in my anger. But I just couldn’t walk in obedience to the scripture in James 1:19 that says we are to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”
In God’s Time
And then, in God’s way and in His timing, He freed me from that anger. I was alone in my room at a Christian women’s conference and He showed me the source of my rage. And I was free. Just like that!
There were times after that when I again felt upset and agitated, but because God did what only He could, I was never again filled with the same kind of seething rage. And it’s all because of the work of the Holy Spirit.
That doesn’t mean I can sit back and expect God to do what He calls me to do. He has given clear instructions that followers of Christ are to learn the commandments in the Bible and, in His strength, seek to apply them. We must pray and fellowship with other believers. These, too, are among His commandments. But the good news is we don’t have to do it on our own. In fact, if we try, like the rich man and the apostle Paul did—when he was still known as Saul the Pharisee—we will fail.
But the desire and the ability to truly obey are gifts from God Himself.
Do you find it difficult to trust God? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.
Steph Nickel
Steph Beth Nickel is eclectically interested and eclectically involved. In all she does, Steph seeks to nurture and inspire. She is currently working on the first book in a nonfiction series. Nurture and Inspire LOVE is a compilation of the first devotionals she wrote for HopeStreamRadio.
Steph is a freelance writer and editor. She is the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’ award-winning memoir, Living Beyond My Circumstances, published by Castle Quay Books. Deb and Steph are working on a follow-up book.
You can visit her website, stephbethnickel.com, to learn more about her.
Visit Steph’s contributor’s page or at Steph Nickel’s Eclectic Interests.
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