January - John 14:15: "If you love me, keep my commandments."

These words of Jesus can be boiled down to a simple "if, then" statement: If you love God, then you will keep His commandments. The inverse is also true: If you don't keep God's commandments, then you don't really love Him.

Famously, Jesus gives only a single commandment in the Gospel of John and it occurs in the chapter just before this: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."

The main point of John chapter 14 is that Jesus taught his disciples how to find peace in a troubled world, and that he will not abandon them. Of course, peace comes from obedience. Jesus promised His disciples peace of mind and heart, and that the peace He gave was a gift that the world could not give. Jesus reassured His disciples that they should not be troubled or afraid, and that they should believe in God and in Him.

Jesus never wanted us to have life without trouble, but He promised that we could have an untroubled heart even in a troubled life. b. You believe in God, believe also in Me: Instead of giving in to a troubled heart, Jesus told them to firmly put their trust in God and in Jesus Himself.

If you love Me, keep My commandments: Jesus had just demonstrated His remarkable love to the disciples by washing their feet (John 13:1-5). He told them what their loving response should be; to keep His commandments.

· He commanded them to wash one another's feet, after the example He just displayed (John 13:14-15).

· He commanded them to love one another after the pattern of His love to them (John 13:34).

· He commanded them to put their faith in God the Father and in Jesus Himself (John 14:1).

Keeping the commandments of Jesus does speak to our personal morality, yet His emphasis was on love for others and faith in Him as demonstrations of obedience to His commandments. This is a fair measure of our love for Jesus. It is easy to think of loving Jesus in merely sentimental or emotional terms. It is wonderful when our love for Jesus has sentiment and passion, but it must always be connected to keeping His commandments, or it isn't love at all. For the believer, disobedience is not only a failure of performance or a failure of strength. In some sense, it is also a failure of love. Those who love God most obey Him most joyfully and naturally. To say, "I really love Jesus. I just don't want Him to tell me how to live my life" is a terrible misunderstanding of both Jesus and love to Him.

Jesus also spoke to the proper source of our obedience. It isn't fear, pride, or desire to earn blessing. The proper source of obedience is love. "Obedience must have love for its mother, nurse, and food. The essence of obedience lies in the hearty love which prompts the deed rather than in the deed itself." (Spurgeon)

"Some persons think that if they love Jesus, they must enter a convent, retire to a cell, dress themselves queerly, or shave their heads. It has been the thought of some men, 'If we love Christ, we must strip ourselves of everything we possess, put on sackcloth, tie ropes round our waists, and pine in the desert.' Others have thought it wise to make light of themselves by oddity of dress and behavior. The Savior does not say anything of the kind; but 'If ye love me, keep my commandments.'" (Spurgeon)