John 14:15-21
[Jesus said to the disciples:] 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Our youngest daughter came into my office crying. She was 15 years old, so crying had become pretty much a way of life for her. When I asked what had her so upset, she said, “I’ve done something wrong and can’t live if Daddy’s mad at me”. After assuring her that she could, absolutely, continue to live if her Daddy was mad at her, I reminded her that we love her even when we’re mad at her. In the end, what she thought was a horrible transgression really wasn’t much of a problem at all. Her Daddy was not mad at her, and the sun came up the next morning.
Why do we try to live righteous and honorable lives? If we’re simply trying to avoid punishment, or preserving an appearance of honor to cover our pursuit of our basest instincts, we won’t be able to fool people for long. If, however, the deep desire of our heart is to love and serve others as Jesus loves and serves us, we will live righteous and honorable lives. We’ll mess-up sometimes and get it right sometimes, but the desire of our heart will be pure.
Our daughter wasn’t heartbroken because she thought she was going to get caught doing something wrong. She was heartbroken because her love and respect for her father was so strong that she couldn’t bear to disappoint him. Our love and respect for Jesus, the One who will always love us perfectly compels us to do the same.
Prayer: Lord Jesus: Thank you for receiving us back every time our sinful nature leads us astray, and thank you for first loving us so completely that our desire is to respond by loving and serving everyone in your Name. AMEN