Light the Love candle
Sing: O Come, All Ye Faithful
Who remembers what the last three Sunday’s words were?
Last week we talked about Joy. Joy is found when we love Jesus, others and then ourselves. Jesus, Others, You. I think we all know how to love others and ourselves, but how do we love Jesus? My youngest daughter, Ivy, is helping me write this week’s devotional and she suggested we figure out another acrostic, but this time for the word Love. This is what she came up with:
L- Listen and
O- Obey
V- very
E- exactly
I asked her what that means and she said, “We are trying to love God by listening and obeying Him.”
Jesus said basically the same thing. He said in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.”
He continued in verse 21: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
And verses 23 and 24 “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”If we love Jesus, we will listen to His Word, obey His Word and we won’t pick and choose which things we will listen to or obey. We will listen and obey very exactly according to His Word.
Deuteronomy 4:2 warns us: Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.
Deuteronomy 12:32 emphasizes again: See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
And we see the promise of God in Jeremiah 11:4 Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.
And then we have Jesus saying in Matthew 28:19 &20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Throughout all of Scripture we see the command and the promise, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” Exodus 19:5
It isn’t easy to listen and obey very exactly to what the Lord tells us to do. For one thing, a lot of Christians pick and choose out of the Bible what is important or not. If we follow what the world is doing, or even what other Christians are doing, we will quickly find ourselves off the path of obedience. We have to make sure that our standard is the Word of God, not what our society says is ok or even what some Christians say is ok. People don’t believe in absolute truth anymore. They think everything is relative. A popular catch phrase I keep hearing is “my truth”. People will say for an example, “My truth is that dogs are the best pets.” That is not truth. That is an opinion. People will say, “My truth is that Jesus doesn’t mind if I don’t obey everything in the Bible. My truth is that Jesus loves everyone and therefore hell doesn’t exist.” They have changed and twisted the Bible in countless ways and they explain it away by calling it “my truth.”
But let’s go back to John 14. We see Jesus clearly define truth. In verse 6 Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus calls Himself the truth. The truth does not change. It is not an opinion. There is either truth, lies or opinion. People cannot have multiple truths. What is true for me is either true, false or opinion. Something that is true does not change.
So how do we follow the Bible very exactly?
Jesus tells us how in that same chapter of John 14. Verse 15 says, “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us and He helps us to listen and obey, very exactly, the Word of God. We can’t do it on our own, but the Holy Spirit gives us the power. And when we listen and obey very exactly, we prove our love for God.
God proved His love for us by coming to earth as a little baby. As John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus loves us so much that He took on human form and was born in a manger. He became Emmanuel, God with us. He did not stay apart from us, but entered into our humanity and did so knowing that a horrible death on the cross awaited Him. John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. No greater love has ever been given then the love Jesus has shown us.
When we consider what Jesus did for us, how can we not love Him? Jesus loves us so much that He died for us, how can we not want to obey Him? We can listen and obey very exactly to what He says, trusting Him with mature hopethat His word is truth. We can listen and obey very exactly to what He says to do even when we are filled with what if’s because His Holy Spirit will fill us with peace when we go to Him in prayer. We can listen and obey very exactly even when it seems like we won’t like it at first, because when we obey Him the end result is always joy. And most importantly we can listen and obey very exactly to Jesus because we know He loves us so much and that is how we show our love for Him.
Sing: What Child is This
Prayer:
Thank you Jesus for loving us so much that You came to earth as a little baby. Thank You for sending us the Holy Spirit to help us listen and obey very exactly what You tell us to do. Help us follow you better every day. Show us where we are off track and help us line up with Your Word. Please forgive us when we mess up and don’t follow You. Help us to show our love for you more consistently. Help us to love you better every day. In Your mighty name, Amen.
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