"Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. My Father will love those who love Me; I too will love them and reveal Myself to them." (John 14:21)
There are quite a few things in this Scripture. It first tells us who are the ones who truly love the Lord. We can say lots of things and do lots of things that may appear to all that we love the Lord, but if we don’t obey what Jesus has said, we are deceitful and also deceiving ourselves. There is danger in that. We can think that we belong to Jesus, when in reality are determined to live our lives how we want with disregard of what Jesus has taught. Just because we have memorized a few Scriptures, yet continually sin without repentance, which is turning from it, does not mean we truly love the Lord. While it is true that we may fall into sin because of our flesh weaknesses, it is not something we enjoy doing and it's something we wish to abandon. God knows our heart. We may deceive others and even ourselves, but never the Lord. He knows our heart and knows whether we are truly attempting to obey His commandments.
This is the sanctification process. It’s God working in those areas we have recognized as sin. It’s our surrender of that area to the Lord. There is pain involved in surrendering some sin. For instance, let’s say that your anger just boils when you are insulted. It’s not pious anger. Pious anger is anger toward slander and insult against the Lord God Almighty. When someone insults us and we flare up, it’s because our pride is confronted. We think too highly of ourselves. But the Truth is that we deserved scorn and insults. And even though Jesus took all of the scorn and insults that are hurled at us, who are we to say we’re better than Jesus and too good to suffer some scorn and insults. We can see that the Lord is using these opportunities to reveal to us our weakness and where we sin so we can deal specifically with that area in repentance. In repentance, we show that yes, we are sincere in obeying the commandments of Jesus, demonstrating our true love for Him.
If we love Jesus, He and the Father will love us. “for the Father Himself loves you. He loves you because you love Me and have believed that I came from God.” (John 16:27) God demonstrates His love for us in salvation, mercy and grace in our lives. Jesus in speaking to the church of Laodicea rebuked them for their sin. And He says to them: “I rebuke and punish all whom I love. Be in earnest, then, and turn from your sins.” (Revelation 3:19) There is a consequence when we refuse to turn from our sins. Because the Lord is Good, He allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin. “Because the Lord corrects everyone He loves and punishes everyone He accepts as a child." (Hebrews 12:6) He corrects us because He desires that we continue to abide in Him.
The last thing Jesus says in John 14:21 is that He will reveal or disclose Himself to those who truly love Him. He does this in so many ways as we obey Him, as we do those things, He has commanded us which are difficult or unpleasant. We will not only feel His manifest Presence, but see His mighty hand at work, see the impossible made possible and experience without a doubt His peace, favor and grace in times and from those that were totally unexpected. Jesus will reveal His glory. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Corinthians 3:18) That changing is not by our will and determination. It’s repentance of our sin. That changing into the image of Jesus is a work of the Holy Spirit as we yield to obedience and repentance when we fail.
Comments