He who has My commandments and
keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My
Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.
John 14:21
Obedience to God’s commands comes from your heart. When you
begin struggling to obey God, that is a clear indication that your heart has
shifted away from Him. Some claim: “I love God, but I’m having difficulty
obeying Him in certain areas of my life.” That is a spiritual
impossibility. If I were to ask you, “Do you love God?” you might easily
respond, “Yes!” However, if I were to ask you, “Are you obeying God?” would you
answer yes as quickly? Yet I would be asking you the same question! Genuine
love for God leads to wholehearted obedience. If you told your spouse that you
loved her at certain times but that you struggled to love her at others, your
relationship would be in jeopardy. Yet we assume that God is satisfied with
occasional love or partial obedience. He is not.
Obedience without love is legalism. Obedience for its own sake
can be nothing more than perfectionism, which leads to pride. Many
conscientious Christians seek to cultivate discipline in their lives to be more
obedient to Christ. As helpful as spiritual disciplines can be, they never can
replace your love for God. Love is the discipline. God looks beyond your godly
habits, beyond your moral lifestyle, and beyond your church involvement and
focuses His penetrating gaze upon your heart.
Has your worship become empty and routine? Have you lost your
motivation to read God’s Word? Are you experiencing spiritual lethargy? Is your
prayer life reduced to a ritual? These are symptoms of a heart that has shifted
away from God. Return to your first love. Love is the greatest motivation for a
relationship with God and for serving Him.
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