Thursday, October 14, 2010

If you love Me...

In John 14, Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will obey what I command."

I used to think this was to be understood like this:

"In order to show that you love Me, you must obey My commands."

And that is true. But I'm not so sure that's what Jesus was getting at. I think He might prefer that we understand it like this:

"You are no longer bound by the law. My commands are not to be burdensome to you, because I have taken care of that. However, I know you're concerned about obedience, and I appreciate that concern. But what I'm more interested in is your love for Me. The obedience will flow from the love. If you love Me, everything else will take care of itself."

There's a big difference in these two interpretations. Do you see it? I'd like to know your thoughts.

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