Can I ask you a question today? What does it mean to keep God’s commandments? I assume that those of you who paused to contemplate and answer would have thought about the 10 commandments. Or at least some aspects of the 10 commandments would have surfaced in your thoughts in response to this question.

I myself as a child in Sunday School learned the 10 commandments, recited it in concerts and plays, and watched many shows which referenced the 10 commandments. So, when I think about commandments and directives from our Lord it is easy for the Great 10 as I am coining it to easily come alive in my mind. I am not saying that anything is necessarily wrong with this, but I believe that one thing should come to our minds when thinking about God’s commandments and that is LOVE and not LAW.

John 12:34-35 34 “A NEW command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

1 John 3:22-24 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

So, while there are other commands that we as believers can reference. I am putting forward today that the foremost command that should consume, pervade and saturate the mind of a Christian is that of LOVE.  Note in the passage (verse 23) it says and “this is HIS command”. This is a command from God Himself, to believe in His son Jesus. Yes, believing in Jesus is a command! And you know what the other command is, “Loving One Another”.  

Being soldiers of God I cannot help but think about how the chain of command flows and how orders are given out in any army. When a superior realizes that a soldier is hesitant or resistant to a particular instruction. The superior usually changes his/her tone and becomes stern and remarks, “that’s an order I am giving you”. Put another way, the superior lets the soldier know that they don’t have a choice in this matter since it is a command that they are getting and it must be carried out. It is not a recommendation, suggestion or any such inference.

In the same way God is giving us an instruction that must be carried out, the instruction to love those all around us. Love our enemies, love those that love us, love those that sinfully use us. Our command is to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE and keep on LOVING…!

God went so far as to say we should pay all our debts but keep one debt outstanding and that is the debt of love. The Father is saying we should always owe someone love.

Romans 13:8-10 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Writing this blog has given me a better appreciation for not just wanting to do the LAW but wanting to fulfill the Law, and we fulfill the Law with Love. Actually we can accomplish so much more with love than with any other virtue.

Remember what 1 John 3:24 stated above?

24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in Him, and He in them…”

Now if keeping God’s commandment means loving others then we can rephrase this scripture to read.

24 The one who Loves Others (keeps God’s commands) lives in God (Him), and God (He) in them…”

Wow, isn’t this just beautiful!.

  1. Love makes us fulfill the Law.
  2. Love makes us known as God’s Disciples
  3. Love makes us live in God and God in Us.

Just thinking about this is making me want to shout a loud hallelujah and get up and praise the Lord. (Dane Miller was last seen praising and dancing while typing on his Keyboard).

I depart today by asking us all to examine how much we are loving others because this is the truest representation of the life of a child of God.

This is how our Father teaches us to Love, this standard goes like this.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For other Blogs on love check out: By Our Love They Will Know Us

Your Brother in the Lord,

Dane Miller | Author

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