John 14:21 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."
In this verse we have a clear statement of what it means to love Jesus and the blessing of loving Him. Those who love Jesus have His commandments and watch over them to keep them. At this point in Jesus’ message to His disciples, He has given them three commandments. 1. John 13:34. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Then in John 14:1, Jesus gave two more commands. So #2, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. And #3. Believe in God, believe in Me. John combined the commands of John 14:1 into one single command: Believe in Jesus. In 1 John 3:23-24 he wrote, “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
My spiritual mentor, Jerry White, Jr. taught me that to be a disciple of Jesus, we have to know that God loves us and that we love Him. If those two things are settled in our lives, then our hearts won’t be troubled in this fallen world—no matter what happens. We know He loves us because He reveals Himself to us. He lets us know that He is with and in us as this verse says by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We know that we love Him because we believe He is the life and that loving with Him is the way we keep His commandments. We don’t keep Jesus’ commandments by accident or happenstance. We keep them, guard them intentionally. If you love Jesus, then be intentional about believing and trusting Jesus to be your life. Expect Him to love whoever He puts in your path today?
Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com
