“If You Love Me. . . . ”

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“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”    John 14:15 (NIV) 

                                                                                          

Jesus has spoken words of comfort to his disciples. He then tells them He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) In the verse preceding our focus verse Jesus shares with them something that might have astounded them. “You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”(:14)

Next, He tells them, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (:15) They might have felt helpless when they heard this. I get a mental picture of each of them having a blank stare as they looked at their Master. Can you hear each of them as they mutter, “What does He mean? I love Him. I’m an adult. I haven’t had to obey anyone since I was a child.”

        The Lord Jesus then continues by promising to send another Counselor to be with them forever. This Counselor will help them as they continue through life.

        In our 21^st Century, we see times when people choose to go their own way rather than obey their superiors—parents, supervisors, the laws of the land, or the authorities. We have to understand that in each of the areas of our lives, we have standards that we have to meet, aka rules we have to follow. We choose to follow them because we have regard for those who set the codes.

    

        As Christian believers, we learn to love Jesus because He shed his blood and died for you and me. We love Him more each day because we learn more of the degree of His love for us, His children.

        When you read this, we will be two, at most, days away from Ash Wednesday, a very important day of the church year. I pray that each of His children can show Him that we love Him during the season of preparation for His Resurrection.

The Greatest of These

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And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

 But the greatest of these is love

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

            The Apostle Paul closes out the most touching passage he wrote with these words. Have you ever wondered what He means by the word “things?” I have. Could he mean emotions? Faith is deeper than an emotion. So is hope. Love is a deliberate act of our souls.  Could he mean motivations? Let’s see, motivation means the reason for an action taken.

            I believe he means these three terms to be motivations. We take action in certain areas of our lives because we know the path we choose to take is the right one. (Faith) At other times we take a course of exercise that we see as the best way to go. (Hope) Still, we venture on a path that opens to us because we know it is what is best for someone else at that time. (Love)

            In 2011, our son came to me and told me he had been accepted for a job 600 miles to the west of where we live. He remembers me telling him, “That’s all right. You could live thee for a couple of years.”  He told me I said this when he was home the other week. What I didn’t know was my thought would be prophetic. I was motivated by my love for him.

            He will be relocating back to our home state in a few weeks. Yes, we are excited about his decision. We met him in the town where he will live and tried to help him find an apartment. We came home on the morning of the second day and he continued his search. He found one and did the business he needed to do and then drove two hours to our home.

We had a short visit with him here. He had to leave out a full day earlier that he planned due to the predicted weather.  All the actions that Hubby and I took in this venture were backed by the motivation of love.

Remain in His Love

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“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Now remain in my love.”

John 15:9 (NIV)

               The scene is in an upper room. Jesus and his disciples recline at their last meal together. Jesus tells his disciples as He prepares them for the future.

               The Master tells them how much He loved those who followed Him. He states it well. “As the Father has loved me,” As we study the Gospels we sense how great God’s love was for Jesus.

               Now, Jesus tells his disciples that He loves them as His Father has loved Him. What does Our Lord mean by this?

            Jesus loves patiently. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthian believers (I Cor. 13:4), reminds us that love is patient. Our Lord loves us and waits for us to realize our need for Him. I had a Sunday school teacher who said it this way, “Jesus is always a gentleman.”

            He loves unconditionally. As children, our earthly parents had to discipline us when we did something that could have hurt us or someone else, if we disobeyed them, or broke a house rule. But, they still loved us! God, who loved us when we were still unformed, loves us no matter how serious our disobedience.

            As children of God, we sometimes wonder if an action we do might cause God to be angry with us. On Tuesday mornings, I meet with a group of friends from church for a season of prayer. But, I can’t always be as faithful as I would like about my attendance. Weather conditions or my general health enter into the decision I sometime have to make to stay home; when I do I try to spend that time in prayer.

            We cannot put limits on how much Jesus loves us. We know He does. We see the evidence in the ways He protects us, provides for us, and brings us through difficulties. We should always remember that He loves us more than we can ever realize.

Know and Love Your Neighbor

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself” Matthew 22:39 (NIV)

            Since the Pharisees heard that Jesus had earlier ‘silenced the Sadducees,’ (:34), they decided to test Him. One who was knowledgeable in the law posed the question, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

            The Master answered the question and went further, giving the second greatest commandment, to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. When He said this, Jesus was quoting Old Testament Law. (Leviticus 19:18)

 

            This is a tall order. In our 21st Century society, we barely know who are neighbors are.At one time, I could say I knew or was acquainted with several families along our street, those a few houses away as well as those close to our house. As time and circumstance has changed our street, I no longer can say that.

            Last spring, we had an emergency right across the street from us. A house caught fire. The woman who lived across our side yard had her dad staying overnight. He ran across and down the street and pounded on the front door of the house immediately to the west of the burning house.  He was a neighbor in every sense, and he was just staying at his daughter’s. 

            Will we be held accountable for our society becoming more insular as time goes by? I believe so. Certain regions of these United States have recently gone through times of great unrest. These times have caused concern and caution on the part of those who watched events unfold.

           

            Is there still time for us to learn to know and then to love our neighbors? I certainly hope there is.

            Dear Father God:

                        Thank you for giving us neighbors. Help us to learn to live side by side or close to one another. Teach us to respect one another and to bring aid when and as we can. Also equip us to share our love for You with them. We give You all the praise. In the name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN.

Consider: Faith in the Storms of Life RJD Feb. 2015

Journal Entry- February 7, 2004

See: Mark 4:35-41

               Jesus and his disciples set out in a boat, crossing the lake. A storm develops; the disciples panic. Jesus was in the rear portion of the boat asleep. The disciples woke Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus called out to the storm, rebuking it. The wind calmed down in an instant. Jesus then asked if they still lacked faith. The disciples became terrified. “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

               In our lives we have times of trial, those storms of life. In this story we see two ways to react to them. The disciples feared and fretted. They went out of fear to Jesus, asking for His help. Jesus approached, confronted, and pacified the storm.

               We should learn early on in our walk with Christ that we can trust Him to handle any storm that comes our way, no matter how severe, no matter how quickly one appears.

UPDATE: This journal entry is eleven years old. But, as I reflect on the story, I realize I read of people in our world responding to storms as the disciples did or worse. Conversely, every week, at church, I witness people responding in faith to a need or asking in faith for God’s guidance. Every so often, I hear people giving praise to Him for His presence with them.

               Christian believers have learned that Jesus is with them when those storms of life present themselves. Let’s all give praise to God for His Son’s presence with us.       

Linking to:  enthusiasticallydawn.com

Love One Another

“A new command I give you: I have loved you,

so you must love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples,

if you love one another.”

John 13:34 (NIV)

               The scene is in the upper room. Judas has departed to attend to his plans. Jesus had excused him from the meal. After Judas left, Jesus spoke of His being glorified and of the Father’s glorification as well as His own.           Jesus tells them his time with them is short. He also tells them they cannot follow Him (at that time.) He then gives them a new command: “As I have loved you, love one another.” How do these eleven men manage to carry this out?

               Shortly after this scene, it seems each of them go his separate way. They do this because the message Jesus had tried to give them didn’t make sense. They were grief-stricken. They chose to go to the place where Mary was because something inside them may have told them that they would find peace if they were all together.

               We, in the 21st Century, do the same thing. When something tragic or unhappy happens, believers congregate together to console each other. We send encouragement or condolence cards. These acts are born of love.

               Recently, a lady from our church went home to be with Jesus. She was 98 years old. My visitation partner and I saw her about every other week. When a group from the church went Christmas caroling, her assisted living facility was the second place we visited. She was elated and even had us go down the hall so she could introduce our pastor to one of her friends. Everyone who knew this lady loved her. She had some good stories to tell about her life.

               We know this lady is in heaven with Jesus. Her family has been through some very tough times. God’s  people are praying for them.

Love Him Completely

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul and all your mind.”

Matthew 22:37 (NIV)

              

Jesus speaks these words in response to the disciple’s question. “What is the greatest commandment?” In His answer, He quotes the Old Testament (Deut. 6:5). What does this mean to us in the 21st Century?

              

               I recently had to attend a meeting on a Saturday at church. I had been indoors for most of two weeks due to the weather. I did not really want to get out to go to a meeting. I understand the scheduling issue involving people’s time.

               This meeting is an annual requirement set by the denomination. I tried putting it out of my mind. I balked about getting out, I even prayed about not wanting to go. I even thought of all the things I had put off doing do to some weather related depression I had been through. Yes, I tried to use laundry, dishes and cleaning house as ‘reasons’ for not going to this meeting.

               I awoke about two hours earlier than I intended. Hubby asked me why I wasn’t asleep. All I could say was, “I woke up and don’t feel I can go back to sleep.” Then, of all things, I told him about having to go to this meeting—the one I was trying to get out of.

               The ironic part of all this is I spent time the evening before searching for scriptures on love and obedience for this month’s blog entries. Yes, God has a sense of humor.

               I relate this story to highlight the scripture verse. We are commended to love God completely. While we see people say they love Him, we have God’s Word to tell us that we must love Him with every fiber of our being (with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind.)

I got cleaned up, put on fresh clothes and prepared to go to that meeting. I had to defrost the car before I left. (Hmmm, why didn’t I think of that before, nahhh, God would have torn that one up, as well.)

(Later) I did obey the Lord and attend that “class.” I learned several things that I might need to know. Also, after the class dismissed, the leader invited us to have a light breakfast. I chose to eat some fruit.

               While I was eating, a lady sat down beside me and shared something that was on her heart, a circumstance of her family. We talked and she showed me pictures. I told her I would pray for her family and for her.

               As I refine this entry, I realize that God placed me where He wanted me that day.