True love in action
For starters, I do want you to know that I took my own message to heart yesterday. And when my heart was “troubled” by whatever thoughts might come along, I made a conscious decision to tell it to not be troubled.
I also just flipped my perpetual calendar over and the verse was from 2 Corinthians 5:11 The Living Bible…simply stated “God knows our hearts.”
So true.
Because the “troubles” that threatened me were just little worries that wanted to pop up, and unkind assessments that lurked in the corners and some fears that would rise up here and there.
It took some effort to recognize what was going on and just say to myself (Ruth Chou Simons calls it “preaching to heart”) – now Jesus said to not let my heart be troubled but to take heart because He has overcome the world.
There is my example of how I used the mediation on yesterday’s passage. And it kind of makes a nice segue into today’s portions that have caught my attention.
Today I am continuing on in Chapter 14 and while there were several verses that I could land on, I have chosen the ones regarding “obedience” and how it ties in to love.
I think this really hit home with me as our grands are getting older and we see the conflict that disobedience can bring into relationships and home life. Now, we love them unconditionally, as do their parents, but as with all young people, there are seasons where struggles ensue.
As Rachel and Zach encounter that first foray into the ‘tweens and teens years, I can well remember my own battles. When we tell a child to do something and they do not do it, it is hard to believe that they really love us.
They may give us hugs, and be terribly sorry, but repeatedly disregarding our commands…well…we just don’t feel the love flowing back to us. Because the things we are telling them to do, or asking them to do, are not hard and they are beneficial for the child and for the family.
And so as we read these passages, let’s think about how we understand this concept in real time and how it plays out with our relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
John 14:12 – Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do.
If we say we believe Jesus and we follow Him, it makes sense that we will do the things that He did.
John 14:15 – If you love, you will keep my commands.
This reminds me of my practice yesterday of preaching to my heart – I did have little ripples of a troubled heart from time to time, but by preaching the truth to it, I was following His command to NOT LET MY HEART BE TROUBLED.
It’s not always easy and it’s not something that comes naturally, but in the verses following verse 15, Jesus promises He will send His Spirit to help us with this remembering and obedience thing. He promises us that as we lean into wanting to be obedient, He will reveal Himself to us through the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can recognize when we are letting our hearts be troubled, or whatever command we are struggling to recognize and obey.
This is not a burden, but a gift of mercy. We only need to desire to be obedient and He will meet us and show us the way and give us the strength to do it.
Again we see this theme in verse 23: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father with love him, and we will come to him and make our home in him.
And in verse 24: The one who doesn’t have me will not keep my words.
Here we see the commands we are to obey are in his Word – we have access to how Jesus lived and ministered and communed with people and God in our Bibles.
It is up to us to KNOW what his word is and then to keep it in our hearts. Our love for him makes us want to tune into what his words are and to keep them, hold them, obey them.
Is this challenging in our fast paced lives? Absolutely.
But he knew this and again reminds us of his promise to help us.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all this and remind you of everything I have told you. John 14:26
This verse was often quoted to me by one of our dear class members on Sunday mornings. As I was teaching, I would often have trouble remembering the reference verse for a Scripture that suddenly popped into my mind.
Charlie invariably would find it as I was rambling around and would call it out. Later he would just to me as he was leaving class, “John 14:26.” Of course, I would have to go look it up and then I would smile. As I was teaching, he was asking the Holy Spirit to help him remember the reference for the verse I was talking about.
Obedience.
Jesus was our supreme example of complete obedience as we see in the closing passages of Chapter 14 of John’s gospel.
Referring to his impending arrest, crucifixion and death; he finished this portion of his final conversations with his disciples by alerting them that the rulers of the world were soon coming to carry out God’s plan.
But he let his followers know that the soldiers, priests, court system and all who would betray him were not the power brokers.
“On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me.” John 14: 31
Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection were all an act of obedience to the Father, because he loved the Father.
That is our example.