If you love me

"If you love Me, keep My commandments.  – John 14.15

We used to sing a chorus that went like this.

‘Oh, how I love Jesus

Oh, how I love Jesus.

Oh, how I love Jesus

Because He first loved me.’

It is such a simple little song, and even now the little tune is running through my head.

The thing is loving that Jesus is an easy thing to talk about and an easy thing to sing about. But the truth is that it seems a little harder to prove and live.

I think the reason is that we get it backwards. We think, ‘oh, if I love Jesus I need to work really hard to keep His commandments.

Let’s try a slightly different tack though.

I remember hearing a story of a woman who got married. She soon discovered her husband was a tyrant and a bully. One morning he gave her a list of tasks and said ‘if you love me you will have all of this done before I get home every day.’ She tried. She wore herself out trying out prove her love. But she failed. She never got it all done.

Eventually the husband died. After a time she met someone who was loving and caring and compassionate. She got married again. After several months she was doing some cleaning and came across the first husband’s list of requirements. As she looked down the list she realised to her dismay that she was doing all those things and more and was never exhausted trying to get them done.

What made the difference? Love – simple love made the difference. She wasn’t trying to do it all to prove her love. Her love was enough and because she loved it came naturally.

If we love Jesus we don’t have to get out some kind of commandment tick list and tick the boxes. Those who truly love Him will keep His commandments. The Holy Spirit, as we will see soon, is our teacher and guide and helper.

If we love Jesus, if we truly love Him, keeping His commandments is ‘doin’ what comes naturally.’