Amy
Carroll
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now
remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just
as
I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love." John 15:9-10
(NIV)
From the day I drove off with my newly printed
license, my
parents made the house rules clear: Any tickets or accidents would be my
responsibility. All was well until my friends and I took off for the beach
my
senior year, and I backed into a parked car before I even caught a glimpse
of
the ocean.
I cried knowing I'd have to work all summer at my
minimum
wage, fast-food job to pay for the damage I'd
done.
The sting of that seemingly unfair rule smarted until
I
became a parent, and my son scratched the side of a car on a mailbox last
summer. Suddenly, from the view of a mom, the same rule I'd resisted as a
teenager taught my son responsibility and care.
Yet with God, the ultimate loving parent, we don't
always
understand that the same principles apply. Sometimes God's directions seem
arbitrary and unfair. Especially in a culture lacking clear boundaries of
right
and wrong.
We find ourselves thinking things like, Surely we
should get to decide how much of the truth we tell at work, when to forgive
a
critical friend or the limits of our sexual behaviors. We're adults now,
after
all. Rules are for children, right?
Yet, God wants to give us a new perspective on the
subject
of commands and obedience. His ways are often the opposite of our ways, and
today's key verse, John 15:9-10, shows us that a life of obedience to God is
a
reward, not a punishment:
"As the Father has loved me, so
have
I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain
in
my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his
love."
In these verses, Jesus calls us to remain in His love,
a
very safe place to be, by obeying His commands.
The word "remain" in verse 9 can also be translated
"dwell" or "reside." That helps me picture God inviting us into a dwelling
place
with protective walls built layer by layer with His
commands.
All caring parents have house rules. And God is the
most
loving parent of all. He has established a beautiful place where we're
invited
to live with Him, protected and cherished.
But for a woman who struggles with feeling like she
has to
work to earn God's love, the conditional statement "if you keep my
commands" has been hard to understand. I've had to dig deeper to
understand
how God's love and obedience work beneficially
hand-in-hand.
Undeniably, God is love (1 John 4:16). The phrase describing God as
"abounding
in love" is found in Exodus, Numbers, Nehemiah, Psalm, Joel and Jonah.
"His love endures forever" is repeated more than 20 times in Psalm
136
and dozens more times throughout Scripture. If God says it in His Word so
many
times, there's no doubt He means it! We can know for sure that God's love is
always available.
It is unchanging and always there for us, but we have
a
choice. We choose through the condition of obedience to remain in
His
love or through disobedience to walk out of its
protection.
Jesus' declaration of love feels like a warm blanket
wrapped around me in a cold world. God, our heavenly Father, is drawing us
into
the beautiful life He created us for where His commands are simply the walls
of
the residence. Let's choose to move in and dwell in the presence of our
Father's
love.
Lord, I choose to trust that Your rules are for my
good
and growth. I want to remain in Your love, and live a life of obedience to
You.
When I want to push against Your ways, help me to look around at the walls
of
Your dwelling of protection and be thankful. In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
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