◄ What Does 1 John 2:5 Mean? ►

God wants us to hear His Word, to know His Word, to trust His Word, and to keep His Word. The Lord has placed His Word in a superior position above His holy name. Whether we are talking of the written Word of God or the Living Word of God - the God-breathed Scriptures or the Lord Jesus Christ in Person - God wants us to hear, to know, to trust, and to keep His Word.

We can only keep His Word if we trust His Word. We can only trust His Word if we hear His Word, for "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." And we can only keep His Word if we hear, know, and believe in our hearts ALL that God has said in and through His Holy WORD.

Once the Word is in our hearts by faith, it is only then that we can KEEP God's Word, for our lives are to be lived in spirit and truth. We cannot keep His Word in the strength of our own fleshly nature. The only way to keep His Word is to remain in Christ, living in the power of the Spirit of God Who guides and directs our path and checks and corrects our thoughts.

But whoever keeps God's Word demonstrates that the love of God is in Him, and God's love is very different from human love. His love is a godly love, a pure love, a perfect love, and it is this godly love that is being perfected in us as we keep His Word.

The love that is being perfected in us is the love of Christ, and His final command to all of us is to: "Love as I have loved." The only way that we can keep God's Word is to let the love of Christ dwell richly in our hearts. The only way to keep His Word is to hear His Word, know His Word, and trust His Word.

"He who keeps (treasures) His Word [who bears in mind His precepts, who observes His message in its entirety], truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected (completed, reached maturity). By this we may perceive (know, recognise, and be sure) that we are in Him."

Always remember, when you keep His Word, His love will be perfected in you as He guides, directs, checks, and corrects your daily walk, and then others will know that we are His – and He is ours forever.

Loving Father, I want to keep Your Word in my heart and let the love of God flow out from me to others. May I love others as You love them. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.