Sunday, July 15, 2012

A Love that Motivates

“If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” John 15:10 NIV1984

Does this mean that I have to work for my salvation? Do I have to be obedient to remain in God's love? What is the meaning of this verse? Jesus has always been the Son in relation to His Father. Nothing will change that. The Father's love has always been in His heart, and it will always be there forever. He obeys His Father because of love, not because of compulsion, because the Father loves Him eternally. The proof of that love relationship is His obedience to the Father's will. In the same way, in this context, Jesus is teaching His disciples to remain in His love by faith. Consequently, if they trust in Him, they will bear fruit, much fruit. In fact, in verse 9 Jesus says that He has taken the initiative of loving His disciples (not just with any kind of love but just "as the Father has loved me"). Again, His purpose here is not to threaten them but to assure them (v.11, "I have told you this so that..."). In other words, Jesus is not scaring us here (as a Father might scare a son for not obeying). Instead, He is assuring us of His love, and He is teaching us how to experience more of it each day through our trust and obedience to Him. His love will motivate us to obey Him more. Obey Him today out of love, not out of compulsion.

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