October 5, 2024 THE MOTIVATION
John 14:23-24 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear are not Mine, but the Father who sent Me.”
1 John 2:3, 5:3 “And by this we know that we have come know Him, if we keep His commandments.” “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
Some get it backwards; they see the commandments of God, the word of God, as a list of things they must do in order for God to love them and for them to be acceptable to Him. That sounds logical. The worlds system is about reciprocation; you do this for me and and I will do this for for you. The above verses reveal truths that run contrary to unregenerate human nature. Another great contrast is the difference in the love of God and the love of man; the love of man is self-centered whereas the Love of God is a love that blesses others. It’s simple; we keep the commandments of God because we love Him; and if we do not keep His word, we do not love Him. This is not implying that we must be perfect and never fail in keeping His word. It is a matter of the heart; is it our deepest desire to keep His word. Also, if we fail to keep His word, it hurts us to know that we have done so. When we confess our sin and turn from it, that is one way of keeping His word. His ‘word’ refers to the gospel, the word of God; His word reveals the heart of God for His people and it give instructions on how we are to live; keeping and walking in His ways lead to life and His commandments are not burdensome. The greatest and most beneficial thing we can do is to walk in His ways. God desires for us to love Him with all of our hearts; God is love and when He finds love in our hearts for Him, He and the Father take up residence in us! So, the word of God is not a rule book that we have to follow; it is the door to life to the fullest. One might be honest and say that they do no know if they love God or not. I cannot explain how one comes to love God; but I know one important aspect of that; when we come to see how much God loves us, when we receive His love, it is only natural to love Him in return. I encourage all of us to examine our hearts to determine if we do love Jesus; and to simply tell God that we want to love Him and ask Him work in us in such a way that we do love Him with all of our hearts. Also, we can nurture and we can grow in our love for Him. We need to read and meditate on His word and we need to embrace and act on what we read. Let us know that God is drawing us to Himself; may we respond to His drawing.
1 John 2:15 “We love because He first loved us.”
Luke 10:27 “And He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Blessings, Buddy
John 14:23-24 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear are not Mine, but the Father who sent Me.”
1 John 2:3, 5:3 “And by this we know that we have come know Him, if we keep His commandments.” “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
Some get it backwards; they see the commandments of God, the word of God, as a list of things they must do in order for God to love them and for them to be acceptable to Him. That sounds logical. The worlds system is about reciprocation; you do this for me and and I will do this for for you. The above verses reveal truths that run contrary to unregenerate human nature. Another great contrast is the difference in the love of God and the love of man; the love of man is self-centered whereas the Love of God is a love that blesses others. It’s simple; we keep the commandments of God because we love Him; and if we do not keep His word, we do not love Him. This is not implying that we must be perfect and never fail in keeping His word. It is a matter of the heart; is it our deepest desire to keep His word. Also, if we fail to keep His word, it hurts us to know that we have done so. When we confess our sin and turn from it, that is one way of keeping His word. His ‘word’ refers to the gospel, the word of God; His word reveals the heart of God for His people and it give instructions on how we are to live; keeping and walking in His ways lead to life and His commandments are not burdensome. The greatest and most beneficial thing we can do is to walk in His ways. God desires for us to love Him with all of our hearts; God is love and when He finds love in our hearts for Him, He and the Father take up residence in us! So, the word of God is not a rule book that we have to follow; it is the door to life to the fullest. One might be honest and say that they do no know if they love God or not. I cannot explain how one comes to love God; but I know one important aspect of that; when we come to see how much God loves us, when we receive His love, it is only natural to love Him in return. I encourage all of us to examine our hearts to determine if we do love Jesus; and to simply tell God that we want to love Him and ask Him work in us in such a way that we do love Him with all of our hearts. Also, we can nurture and we can grow in our love for Him. We need to read and meditate on His word and we need to embrace and act on what we read. Let us know that God is drawing us to Himself; may we respond to His drawing.
1 John 2:15 “We love because He first loved us.”
Luke 10:27 “And He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Blessings, Buddy
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