loving God = obedience to Him

LOVE One Another

Last week, I brought up a simple fact: loving God = obedience to Him. After delving into the Scriptures, we were convinced that there is no way around it: if we want to love God we must obey His commands.

For this is what LOVE for God is: to keep His commands.
1 John 5:3

This week, we will look at one very specific area in which our obedience (or disobedience) clearly shows our LOVE for Him—our LOVE for one another.

1 John 4:21
And we have this command from Him:
The one who LOVES God must also LOVE his brother.

God specifically communicates, just as distinctly as in 1 John 5:3, that LOVE for Him requires obedience. If we LOVE God, we keep His commands—we obey Him. His command in this area is that we must also LOVE our brother (and sister). And we are encouraged that ‘yes! I CAN do this!’ because we know that His commands are not too hard for us “…His commands are not a burden…” (1 John 5:3b).

Jesus was preparing His disciples for His soon-coming death, resurrection and departure. One of the very important things that He spoke to them about was this very thing—LOVE—when He told them,

This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have LOVE for one another.
John 13:35

Think about that for a moment, please. Was there ever anyone who loved more, or better, or more completely, or selflessly than our Lord? No…not ever. But, we understand from His communication with His disciples that they would be recognized as His by their LOVE for one another. Just amazing, isn’t it? Truly, I believe, we also are recognized as His by our LOVE for one another. How blessed are we!!!

We all know the ‘LOVE’ chapter of the Bible…that’s right, 1 Corinthians 13. Contained in that portion of the Scriptures is God’s definition of what LOVE is.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient,
Love is kind and is not jealous;
Love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly;
It does not seek its own, is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails;

Dear children, let us not LOVE with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18

The actions are clearly defined for us in 1 Corinthians chapter 13:

being patient
kind
displaying no jealousy
or bragging
not being arrogant
acting becomingly (appropriately)
being selfless
not being provoked
not worrying about wrongs done to us
not rejoicing in unrighteousness
rejoicing in truth
bearing and believing and hoping and enduring all things

These are the actions—the attitudes of our hearts—that show, or prove, or display our LOVE. Words are easy to say…but actions show the truth. Amen?

Praying for you each (please pray for me, too!) as you endeavor to be obedient and to treasure the commands of our God. Remember, loving God = obedience to His commands. He has commanded that we LOVE one another and to LOVE with actions, not just idle words.

Let all that you do be done in LOVE.
1 Corinthians 16:14

Praying for each of you!

♥ coleen

LOVE God, LOVE People (lyrics)

how can i thank You for the way that you freely gave
LOVE so beautiful, unconditionally
had to stop, take a break, feelin’ good today
everything’s wonderful…You didn’t have to do this for me
but then i look and see all of the suffering, i wanna do something
but something’s gotta start with me

i can’t give it ‘til i live it
now that my eyes are open, teach me how to LOVE

LOVE God…LOVE people! LOVE my neighbor as myself
my brother, my sister; everybody LOVE somebody

and now it’s time to make a change—revolution day
put it into action…live compassionately
you take the black and the white…red, yellow, brown
life gets better, it just gets better when we
we look around and see all of humanity
waiting on someone—someone is you and me

you can’t give it ‘til you live it
now that your heart is open, just reach out and LOVE

you can’t give it ‘til you live it
you can’t live it until you give it away
you can’t give it ‘til you live it
now that your heart is wide open, you gotta give all of your LOVE

you can’t live without giving LOVE
so let your heart be open; just reach out and, just reach out and LOVE <3

_________________________________

If you would like to send a personal message to Coleen, you may email her at:

Coleen@girlfriendscoffeehour.com, or leave a comment below.

Loving God = Obedience to Him

I am going to ask a seemingly ridiculous question. Do you love God? Yes, really; this is not a rhetorical question! Alright, here’s another one: How about Jesus…do you love Him? Without any stretch of the imagination, I can see y’all enthusiastically nodding your heads! Of course you are…me, too! Oh, how we love Him so!

So then, if/since we do so VERY much love our heavenly Father and our Lord then we will equally affirm that we live out the following statements of our Lord’s…

If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.
John 14:15

If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]….
Anyone who does not [really] love Me does not observe and obey My teaching.
And the teaching which you hear and heed is not Mine,
but [comes] from the Father Who sent Me.
(verses 23 and 24)

So I ask you, Jesus girl, follower of the Master, fellow-believer, child of God, “Is there any other way to REALLY love Him other than obeying?” The answer—Jesus’ answer—is a simple, decisive, emphatic ‘no.’ Oh, there are other ways to demonstrate our love for Him, such as prayer, praise, worship through song, service to others, love for others, etc.

But loving God = obedience to Him.

There is only one way—His way. We have not been left on our own, to figure out how to obey His commands or even to figure out what His commands are! By the grace of God, we have a ‘ rule book,’ guideline, structure. We have the Bible—His Holy Words! God has never left His people—starting with Adam and his Eve…to Abraham…to Moses and the children of Israel…to David…to Solomon…to the long line of prophets that God used to bring His Words to His people…to John the Baptist…to Jesus’ Apostles…to Paul…to us—without direction, without reminders of His commands, without loving reproof to help them back to the Truth. Our God is a Faithful Father Who is always there to help and guide and correct and lead, so that we can live lives of obedience to His Words.

We know that an intrinsic part of obedience is knowing His Word and keeping, or treasuring, His Word in our hearts and minds.

I have treasured (hid) Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.
Psalms 119:11

I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.
Psalms 40:8

In the epistle of 1^st John, Jesus’ words are reiterated by the Apostle John.

But he who keeps (treasures) His Word,
truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected.
chapter 2, verse 5

For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands.
Now His commands are not a burden…
chapter 5, verse 3

I am sure that you, my friend, are just like me—we SO yearn to show our love for our God! We voice our love for Him often and passionately! We sing our love for Him out from the depths of our hearts in songs of praise and worship and adoration! Let us never, ever, not ever forget what comes first…what proves our love for Him…what is the start and finish of our love for Him…is a life lived in obedience to His Words.

Praying for each of you!

♥ coleen

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If you would like to send a personal message to Coleen, you may email her at: Coleen@girlfriendscoffeehour.com, or leave a comment below.

LOVE One Another