Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
John 14:21
What does that actually mean for a born-again believer and disciple of Christ today? How does Jesus show himself?
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.
John 14:21
How does Jesus show himself to the one who obeys him as an act of love?
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come …
I came to God dragging my heels because I feared becoming one of those religious folks who have lots of rules to follow and a life full of church activity and no fun.
Shallow and selfish, I know, but that’s the truth of who I was then. I wanted, as my mother used to put it, to go for the gusto in life, to have it to the full!
When I first determined to live by the Greatest Commandment, to love God with all my might, I searched for how to do that. How do you go about loving God?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
Matthew 22:37-38
I had been a Christian about three years when I became terribly convicted about one particular thing: I did not love God.
I was grateful to Him, so very thankful for my salvation and the positive changes in my life because of Jesus Christ. But I kept stumbling over what Jesus said to the teacher who asked Him to name the greatest commandment of all.
I later learned that many Christians struggle with loving God, much less keeping the Ten Commandments and being “a good Christian.”
As in all things, Jesus set the best example for us in how to love the Father with all one’s strength. Ironically, He also showed us the key to accomplishing this is to humbly acknowledge your human limitations, and seek the guidance and wisdom only the Father could impart — because after all, Father knows best! Jesus did this by living a life of utter dependence on the Father. Even though Jesus knew He was the son of God on earth, he said incredibly: By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (John 5:19).
February is the season of love. Leading up to Valentine’s, stores overflow with valentine cards, chocolate candy in red heart boxes and flower bouquets. And of course, the movie channels trot out all our favorite romantic flicks. One of my favorite movies is “Sabrina” — the 1995 remake with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford — because it beautifully reveals the power of love to awaken, transform, and motivate us.
Okay, on to Verse 2 of Psalm 84! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalms 84:2 NASB At first glance a simple little verse, but ponder it a little, and it opens up a feast of truth …
Psalm 84 is chock-full of Hebrew “word pictures,” which invite the student to ponder for a while, then be amazed at the goodness of God and a life shared with him. (I began writing this post with the idea of covering briefly ALL the beautiful nuggets in Psalm 84 — but before I knew it, …
