Based on John 15:9-15 (New King James Version)
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My 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. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
Obeying God is something peculiar (because it has deeper, yet more elemental implications than we think), but essential, because that’s how we can attain salvation and all of the rewards God desires to give us. To start, the first requirement for obeying God is faith. Without faith, nothing of great value can be attained, especially the things of God. But, in order to have the desire to look for God, you must first believe that He exists and that He is who He is. For it is written: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. And well, it’s logical, because how can you follow something or someone if you don’t believe in that thing or person? (Although there are many people that follow things they don’t even understand, and this is something of concern).
Now then, we also need to understand a very important principle, something that eludes many people because of their lack of faith or level of disbelief (and here is where the issue of obedience gets more interesting). Accepting Jesus as Lord and God is not necessarily a favor a person is doing, but rather, it’s an obedience. In other words, when a person comes to believe in the Lord as such, they are really accepting a universal and irrefutable fact. For it is written: “Through Him [Jesus Christ] we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name.” Romans 1:5. What eludes people is that whether they believe it or not, Jesus is God and their disbelief does not change that reality. He continues being God and will be forever independent of whether or not they want to believe it. It’s simply a fact they are acknowledging. Otherwise, if the Lord is not accepted as such, then they are denying an immovable reality, and the one that comes out losing is not God, but the person, because without obedience to the faith, then there is no eternal salvation. Whether they want to believe it or not, the only way to eternal salvation is Jesus.
Now that we have established this point, then comes the next step: continuing to obey God, or more over, going further after coming to faith in Him (because surrendering our life to Him is only the beginning). This is also something that eludes many people, including those that profess being believers. When we acknowledge Jesus as Lord, it implies that you are turning into His servant (because that is the relationship between Lord and servant). So then, if we understand this logic, we can also understand that the usefulness of the servant is determined by their obedience. In other words, if a servant does not serve his Lord, then what good is he/she for? The position of servant has a function and purpose. But if it is not fulfilled, then it is eliminated. Let’s put this in a perspective that is more relevant to our present society. If you have a job (whether as an employee or self-employed), no one is going to pay you for doing nothing, right? And well, if they are paying you for doing nothing, sooner or later, they are going to catch on and you are going to surely get fired (or sacked). So then, we can understand the importance of obedience even in everyday things.
But now, we will get into something deeper (and here is where God differs with everything else). Obedience to God requires (per se) not only faith (because everything starts with that), but also, love. Faith takes you to not just believe in who God is, but also, it takes you to believe everything He has done for us, and that should produce love within us, because no one will do for you what God has done. If you are a person that understands the depth of what was done, and you have some sort of sense of gratitude, you will return the great love God had and has for you. So, while we continue learning (through His Word), love continues to grow, and that love should start fostering obedience in us. In other words, this should be sentiment that should exist within us: I obey God because I love Him and because I want to please Him. So then, obeying or keeping His commandments is no longer a function, but rather, a voluntary following out of love, and there is where the greatest intimacy a human being can ever have with the Almighty is made possible, of not only being His servant, but also, becoming a friend of God. This was the relationship the Father of Faith (of our faith) Abraham was able to have with the Lord, of being called a friend of God.
And finally, here we will see the logic behind keeping the Lord’s things (because God is the most logical being in all of the universe). When we obey God, we are doing those things that are good for us and for those that surround us. If we obey the Lord, we are the ones that come out winning; it’s for our own good. The Lord desires only what is good for us, and nothing more, even though it may not seem like that sometimes. The Lord is always looking out for what’s best for us, even within our greatest pains. It’s hard to understand this, but we don’t have the capacity to see things as God sees them. We have a very limited and selfish view (if we are sincere). God sees the whole picture, our own and others. And not only that, He also has both the vision and knowledge of the future.
So then, have you come to obedience to the faith in Jesus? And if you have obeyed for salvation, are you obeying out of love, by keeping His commandments for your own good and for the good of others? Lord bless! John