Do You Love The Lord?
Every Christian I know will say “Yes, I love Jesus, I love the Lord,” but do we REALLY love the Lord or are those just empty words meant to make us feel some kind of unwarranted security in our relationship with Him? Ouch! Perhaps those are stinging words, but the thought does not originate with me. That’s what Jesus Himself says in John 14:
15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
21 “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24 He 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.”
These are Jesus’ own words and they don’t require much interpretation, but it’s best to read them in the context of the whole chapter here at www.BibleGateway.com.
Then in Revelation 3:16 (AMP), the Lord says“So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!”
The saddest thing about these verses is how uncomfortable they make a lot of people who call themselves Christians. Why, because of disobedience in our lives or because of a lack of meaningful dedication to Jesus in our lives, in the things we do from day to day, and the lack of thought or consideration we actually give to the Lord. Instead of causing us to squirm or try to explain these verses away, we should rejoice in them! Look at the awesome promises they contain! They promise that IF we know the Lord’s commands and IF we live in accordance with His commands, He will LOVE us and SHOW Himself to us! He will COME to us and make His HOME with us! What an awesome thought! That brings us right back to the undeniable connection between how much we love the Lord and how obedient we are, and it’s not possible to read these verses and deny that reality, especially when Jesus Himself said that those who don’t love Him won’t obey what His word (the Bible) teaches. He further expresses how important it is for us to make our relationship with Him a very significant part of our lives, because He said He will “spew” lukewarm Christians out of His mouth!
It’s so easy to excuse our disobedience by saying we can’t help it or it’s not possible, but we can’t keep saying that the Lord doesn’t expect it, because that’s not supported by what the Bible tells us. Not only do the above verses make that clear, but Jesus even tells us HOW to do it later in John 15:5, where He said“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” So, once again, we see that Jesus is the answer. He’s the ONLY answer and it is with Him that we can do ALL things, including living obedient lives and bearing fruit for the kingdom of God and for His glory. And it is when we learn how to do that that He will give us the desire of our hearts, which for so many of us is the restoration of our marriages and our families.