◄ What Does 1 John 5:2 Mean? ►

The Lord Jesus said, "If you love Me you will keep My commandments," and one of the tests of a real love of God is willing obedience to His Word, a genuine trust in what He says, a readiness to believe His precious promises, and a desire to obey His commandments.

As the Cross of Christ loomed ever closer, we find the Lord Jesus saying to His disciples, "A new commandment I give to you - that you love one another as I have loved you." What a sublime and impossible command, for in so doing the Lord Jesus commands us to display the same depth of love to one another as He Himself demonstrated to us.

How bound up and interlinked in this test of love is our love for God, our willing obedience to do His will, and a genuine love for our brothers and sisters in Christ - for love of the brethren and keeping His commandments encapsulates the test of our love towards God. If we are to keep the new commandment He gave to us all, we will love God's children with the same depth of love that Christ Himself loved us, and Christ loved the Church so dearly that He gave himself up for her.

If we walk in the way of His love and live a life filled with His love, we will be following the example of Christ Who "loved us and gave Himself for us as a willing sacrifice, a pleasing aroma to God." But only the life that is walking in spirit and truth, a life lived in humble submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit, can love others as Christ loved us.

Only when the old self life remains nailed to the Cross and the new life in Christ feeds on Him in our hearts, by faith with thanksgiving and praise, can that love of Christ be manifested towards others: "And this is the way that we will know that we love God's children, if we love God and obey His commandments."

"Love as I have loved you." 

Heavenly Father, what amazing love You have for Your children. Help me to love You more and more so that I may walk in genuine trust and willing obedience to all You have commanded in Your Word. Help me to love others in the same way that You have loved me and gave Yourself for me. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.