Based on John 14:15-31 (New King James Version)
“‘If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.”
Within the different Christian beliefs and denominations, there has always been a conflict between either turning the Lord’s things into a religion, into a series of instructions with rituals and practices; or into something liberal, going by what a person thinks (and this is done more today than ever before). If we truly understand what the Scriptures say, it’s not about neither one extreme or the other. Even more so, it’s about something different, but with a primary focus, and with a very different and distinct end than what is thought about universally.
To be able to simplify things, we need to go to what the Lord taught us, because in the end, and how it is written: “…I [Jesus] am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6. And as such, the Lord said this: “Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’” Mark 12:29-31. So, out of an entire book (the Holy Bible), He gives us a north, or where everything should start. So then, like I said at the beginning, the answer lies in something more focused and exact.
Now then, why are we given these things as commandments? And the answer is that when something is not clearly understood (intellectually speaking), everything starts by just “doing” things, by obeying. For example, that’s what happens with a small child, and that’s why the Lord said that we need to be like children. A child does not understand the reasons for why its parents tell them to do or not do things. He is only taught to obey. A child is told to eat all of the food and drink the water that is given to him, and he just needs to obey so he can survive. A child does not understand anything that has to do with a balanced meal, or how to cook, nor anything else that is involved with what is being put in his mouth. He only has to do what he is told to do. So then, the reason for why these things are commandments is to help us understand that they are vital (because commandments need to be obeyed), while the reason for them is being discovered.
So then, relating to the first and second commandments; we are given an order of priority, a starting point, so we can begin doing those things that are not only good, but more importantly, the reason for why we should be doing things. The intention of the heart is what matters most to God, because it goes beyond just doing what is right. But also, He shows us something vital with the words He chooses to teach us with. He uses the word “love”. We need to love the Lord our God and love our neighbor. From the moment that the word “love” is being utilized, a very unique and definitive element is being introduced. We need to understand what love means so that we can actually love God and our neighbor. And this is one of the greatest problems that humanity has; being able to understand what love means (simply put, looking for and following someone selflessly, looking only for their well-being). So then, we always look for God because of some personal need, but when we find God, solving the need we have should turn into a selfless feeling, when we start to understand just who God really is, and everything He has done for us. There is where our love for God should start. And as a result of beginning to love God is that then the second commandment, or the second step follows: learning to love our neighbor. Love for God is what should be the foundation for loving our neighbor, because you desire to start pleasing God (and here is where keeping the Lord’s Word comes in).
When a person starts loving someone else, they try to know them intimately. They try to learn their likes, their origins. They want to know as much as possible about the person. It’s the same thing with the Lord. When love for the Lord is born, you start searching the Scriptures, looking for what He desires, trying to know Him more. In the end, you try to keep what He teaches in His Word, whether you understand the reason or not. And when this happens is that then all of the marvels of God come to be in a person, starting with the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Then you start understanding how to love your neighbor because you are only looking for their well-being, not because you are trying to get something from them. And there is where the application of God’s Word comes in. And all of this goes against the world and its teachings, for it is written: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16.
So then, have you really understood what it means to keep God’s commandments? Lord bless! John