When my younger son, Joshua, reached 10 years of age, he became remarkably obedient to his mother and me. Both of my sons were always well-behaved, but this change in Josh was so dramatic that it was very noticeable. What happened to create Josh's movement towards noticeably better behavior? We didn't find out until years later when we heard Josh give his testimony. Josh said that when he reached about 10 years of age he decided that he loved his mommy and daddy so much that he didn't ever want to hurt us by disobeying us!
The first time I heard Josh say this, I almost fell off my chair! What he said was every parent's dream: his obedience came from love, not fear of consequences.
But what does this have to do with learning to be like Jesus? Everything! From a lifetime of being loved by His Father, Jesus perfectly obeyed His Father because of love for His Abba. He says this in a number of places, but perhaps one of the clearest is found in John 14:31 "the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me." (NIV84).
That Jesus expected His followers to live with the same kind of love-prompted obedience to His Abba is clear from John 14:15. There Jesus says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (HCSB). It's important to remember that these words were given in the context of the disciples having been deeply, deeply loved by Jesus for over three years. So, in a sense, Jesus is saying, "I have shown you how truly loved you are, and you have responded with love for me. Now let that love for me motivate your obedience to me."
Jesus talks again about love and obedience in John 15:9-10 (HCSB): "As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love." Is Jesus saying here that He and/or the Father will stop loving the disciples if they don't keep His commandments? Not at all, but He is suggesting that love motivates obedience and keeps us "within the range" of God's blessings that flow because of His love for us.
I hope this is taking root in your heart. God wants to pour out His love so powerfully and continually upon us that we will joyfully respond to Him with loving obedience, just like my son, Josh, did. You see, Josh didn't make that incredible decision in a vacuum. He knew that he was deeply loved, treasured, respected, cared for, etc. Without sounding like I am tooting my own horn (only by God's grace did I learn to be a good daddy!), let me share some words from a poem Josh gave to me several years ago: "They were happy, well behaved children who obeyed willingly one whom they knew could be trusted, one whom they did not fear... These two boys somehow knew that their father delighted in them and that he always had their best interest in mind."
How about you? Do you know that Abba, Father, loves you, delights in you and always has your best interest in mind? Does your obedience flow from your heart freely because you know that you are loved, or are you still trying to obey to earn His love? You cannot be like Jesus until you get this right! If we are to be like Jesus, it means that we press into His love more and more so that we never, ever doubt it! When we live in His love, experiencing it ever more deeply in innumerable ways, we will obey freely and fully, just like Jesus.
Learning to be loved so that in love I will freely obey and become more and more like Jesus.
Tom, one of Abba's children
Jesus talks again about love and obedience in John 15:9-10 (HCSB): "As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love." Is Jesus saying here that He and/or the Father will stop loving the disciples if they don't keep His commandments? Not at all, but He is suggesting that love motivates obedience and keeps us "within the range" of God's blessings that flow because of His love for us.
I hope this is taking root in your heart. God wants to pour out His love so powerfully and continually upon us that we will joyfully respond to Him with loving obedience, just like my son, Josh, did. You see, Josh didn't make that incredible decision in a vacuum. He knew that he was deeply loved, treasured, respected, cared for, etc. Without sounding like I am tooting my own horn (only by God's grace did I learn to be a good daddy!), let me share some words from a poem Josh gave to me several years ago: "They were happy, well behaved children who obeyed willingly one whom they knew could be trusted, one whom they did not fear... These two boys somehow knew that their father delighted in them and that he always had their best interest in mind."
How about you? Do you know that Abba, Father, loves you, delights in you and always has your best interest in mind? Does your obedience flow from your heart freely because you know that you are loved, or are you still trying to obey to earn His love? You cannot be like Jesus until you get this right! If we are to be like Jesus, it means that we press into His love more and more so that we never, ever doubt it! When we live in His love, experiencing it ever more deeply in innumerable ways, we will obey freely and fully, just like Jesus.
Learning to be loved so that in love I will freely obey and become more and more like Jesus.
Tom, one of Abba's children
1 comment:
So key...
And get this revelation (I think) in terms of the Resurrection.
Over and over in the book of Acts they say something like "You killed the author of life but God raised Him from the dead"...
Our worst can never overcome God's purpose...we can know we are loved and our unloveableness was not enough to keep Jesus dead. The Resurrection is (among many, many other things) a declaration that nothing we do disqualifies us and nothing we do is greater than God's power to make new. That's the gist of it.
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