If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15
Dear New Salem Saints,
I am not sure if there is one verse that compels me towards obedience more than the one above. There is no merit from God by my works of goodness or even my obedience, but there is a compulsion to obey that rises out of my love for Jesus. I do not repay the love of Jesus by my obedience. I merely show my love for Jesus when I obey him. Rules and regulations, the requirements of the Law, they merely show me how far away I was from God's standards of righteousness. Loving my Saviour is a different story. Jesus is the one who loved me and gave himself for me on the cross (and for the whole world). Now I respond in love to Jesus as a follower, a disciple who loves his Master. Do I obey? Do I love Jesus? They are both the same question. So that my profession of faith is not an empty bucket of religious verbiage, I must obey his commands to demonstrate the content of my love for Jesus. Today, consider these commands of Jesus from Luke 6:27-38:
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.
Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
I have some love to show for Jesus. How about you?
Rejoice evermore,
Bro. Richard
