This morning I read this short excerpt from Jesus’ teaching to his disciples right before he was crucified. Jesus was trying to prepare them to carry on his mission without him, and one of the things he said was this, from John 14:23-24: “Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone 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.’”
What a simple, even stark message. The litmus test for love is obedience, nothing more or less. Those who obey Jesus will be loved by the Father and will enjoy the close company of God in all his persons. People who don’t obey by definition don’t love Jesus. And, Jesus points out, this was a specific message to Jesus followers from God the Father.
What makes this so hard are all the times when I don’t obey. I want to love Jesus and I feel like I do, but the sad fact is that some days I can really struggle with obedience. Not that I have some big besetting sin that I wrestle with like some big monster, but I can sure be diverted by leisure and pop culture and chasing the good life. I struggle with letting everything go in order to follow.
That makes me uneasy. I know I miss out on some level of blessing when I do that, but do I risk more than that? These words from Jesus suggest that I could.
I think it’s one of the big issues for American Christians, this attraction to the life that is supposedly our national dream. This morning I feel urgently that I need to pray for all of us not to be seduced away from all those things that show up in red letters in our New Testaments.
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