Abide in His Love

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” – John 15:10 NKJV

Image by Rondell Melling from Pixabay

Jesus said that if we love Him we will keep His commandments.  Like the Father, love and obedience are synonymous to Jesus.  You can’t have one without the other.  Jesus obeyed the Father even onto death, such was His love for Him.  And that is why He abides in His Father’s love.  He kept every commandment the Father gave to Him. 

Obedience is putting God and what He wants before ourselves and what we want.  Love is putting the needs of another first. 

Jesus says that if we keep His commandments, we will abide in His love.  What does it mean to abide in His love? It means to be held, to be kept continually in His love. And this happens when we obey His commandments. When you love someone, you want to please them. Our obedience pleases Jesus.

Obedience draws us closer to the Lord. It shows that we are choosing His way instead of ours. We are saying to Him, God, you are our God and we will do whatever You tell us because we trust You. You want what is best for us and getting Your best can only happen when we live in total obedience to Your Word. We are putting Your will above our own. And when we drew near to You to do Your will, You will draw near to us.

Walking in obedience means that we are walking with God. We are not walking contrary to Him. We are in step. In harmony. In sync. Obedience brings unity.

Obedience brings blessings. For Jesus, His obedience to the Father which took Him all the way to the cross where He suffered a terrible death, the blessings was securing our salvation and undoing the works of the devil. Our blessing would come from hearing the Word of God and doing it (Luke 11:28). Just think of how different your life would be if you were to obey the teachings of the Bible. If more frequently than not, children were to obey their parents who know what is best for them think of how much trouble they would avoid. God’s Word is there to light our path, and protect us from the snares our arch-enemy has set for us.

Granted being obedient doesn’t mean that we don’t encounter problems or find ourselves in terrible situations. Throughout the Bible we have seen examples of people who are imprisoned, scourged, martyred and persecuted for their obedience to God but as Peter rightly pointed out, “For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:17).

If we truly belong to Christ, we will be obedient to Him. We will be children of light, walking as He walked while He was here–in total obedience to the Father. Like Him we will not seek to do our own will but will do the will of the Father (John 5:30). And when we do, Jesus will call us, His brother, sister and mother (Mark 3:35).

In the end, only those who are obedient to the Lord will enter His kingdom. Today, obey His voice. Do His will. Keep His commandments. Walk in all His ways. Hold fast to Him. Abide in His love.

Sources: Kenneth Copeland Ministries; The NIV Bible; Blue Letter Bible; Bible Gateway;