“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15
I remember discussing this verse with a guy’s Bible study I led in college. Several of the guys in the group, me included, felt that this sounded petty of Jesus to say. We were mistakenly hearing Jesus say it in the voice of a manipulative 3-year-old. “If you love me, you’ll buy me some ice cream… if you love me, you’ll let me stay up as late as I want… if you really loved me, you’d buy me that new toy.” We were reading our own selfishness into the passage and missing the heart of what Jesus was saying. In truth, I think Jesus was simply stating that obedience is a natural fruit of truly loving God. Just as 2 + 2 results in 4, when a person truly loves God, it results in a trusting obedience.
Pastor and Theologian John Fawcett writes, “In proportion as He is precious to us, will be our aversion to sin and all unholiness… From sincere love to Jesus Christ, will arise hatred of those things which are contrary to His will, and which oppose and hinder us in our endeavors after conformity to Him.”
In the Bible, love for God is often coupled with obedience. Loving God will create a longing to follow Him, knowing that His will is good, pleasing, and perfect. The closer we grow to Christ, the more eager we will be to walk in His ways.