Obedience isn’t what you do to get God to love you. Obedience is a response to knowing and believing in the love God has for you. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”
It sounds like Jesus is explaining to His disciples how to prove their love for Him. It appears as if He is saying that keeping the Ten Commandments is a true demonstration of their love. In fact, I have heard many believers teach it that way. But is that really what Jesus is saying? Let’s go back a few verses and see what commandments Jesus is talking about.
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men Know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35).
Wow! That puts a much different spin on what Jesus is saying. Actually, He isn’t talking about the Ten Commandments but His new commandment. This new commandment is far easier to keep/obey than the Ten. It first requires that we receive or allow Jesus to love us. If we don’t obey the first part, we can’t fulfill the second. How can we love one another if we haven’t allowed Jesus to love us? It can’t be done. Our ability to love others comes from knowing and experiencing God’s love for us. We can only obey/keep these commandments when we embrace God’s love for us.
Take a look at what Jesus says to His Father in prayer.
“O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:25-26).
One of Jesus’s greatest desires is for us to experience the love of His Father as He did. Knowing and believing in your heart that God loves you the same way He loves His Son, Jesus will give you the same boldness, confidence, and trust Jesus walked and lived in with His Father.
The amazing thing about this new commandment Jesus gave us is that it creates a desire in us that fulfills God’s will on earth.
“Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).