Ch. 467 - The Big 'IF'

' "If you love me, you will obey what I command." '
[John 14:15]

I used this verse a couple days ago. I like it a lot. To be honest, it cuts pretty deep every time I read it. It reminds me of how imperfect I am. And how conditional my love is. God sent His Son to die for us. John 15:13 says, ' "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." ' There is no greater love than the love that God has for us. Even so, we should be determined to love Him with everything that we have.

With all our heart.
With all our soul.
With all our strength.
With all our mind.
[Luke 10:27]

It's a tall order, but I don't think it would be commanded of us if we were not capable of doing so. I mean, Jesus never commanded, "Don't sin." Why? My guess... and granted, it's only a guess ... is that He knows we would never be able to not sin. Now, that doesn't mean that we should purposefully sin and have the mindset that it's okay. But God sent Christ as an example for us - someone we should strive to be like - because He knew that we would forever be sinful, and Christ never sinned. Yet He loves us, just the same. However, our love for Him could never measure up to His love for us. And oftentimes, our love isn't even apparent. We keep it to ourselves, which is incredibly unfortunate. We don't do anything with that love - especially when it comes to obedience, it seems.

"I can't do that. I'm too poor."
"I can't do that. I'm not talented enough."
"I can't do that. People would laugh at me."

But if God tells you to do something, why would you turn away? There is no telling what He would do through you. We shouldn't focus on what we think we "can't" do, but instead what we can do - and let God take care of the rest. "If you love me, you will obey what I command." This goes for anything and everything, I think, not just for the greatest commandments of loving God and loving others. I think we need to look inward more and ask ourselves if we are truly loving God by obeying what He commands.