If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments

Following Jesus is more than just believing what He said. It’s also recognizing that a right relationship with God includes accepting that He is God, and that we are not God… that we are His subjects, and that He expects us to live as loyal subjects in His kingdom.

Below is a list of Bible verses that, in essence, say exactly the same thing: if we love God, we will do as He says. Like a child who trusts a loving father, we should respond to God with joy. Grudging obedience is better than none, of course… but if we believe He loves us, obeying Him will be an honor.

• I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6, repeated in Deuteronomy 5:9-10.
• Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9
• And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? Deuteronomy 10:12-13
• Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Deuteronomy 11:1
• So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today – to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul – then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Deuteronomy 11:13-15
• If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow – to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him – then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Deuteronomy 11:22-23
• If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today – to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him – then you are to set aside three more cities [cities of refuge]. Deuteronomy 19:8-9
• I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Deuteronomy 30:16
• Be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Joshua 22:5
• I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. Daniel 9:4-5
• Then I said: Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. Nehemiah 1:5-6
• If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. John 14:15
• Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. John 14:21
• This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome… 1 John 5:2-3
• And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 2 John 1:6

Follow-Up: Salvation is Not by Works

It’s important – crucial – that we recognize that keeping God’s commands is NOT how we’re saved:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

Note the timeline: first we are saved, and become a new creation. Then we do good works. To put it another way, God saves us and then puts us to work. Most religions are works-based, teaching that we must please or appease the gods in order to avoid suffering. Christians are to be obedient to what God has told us to do, but we don’t become Christians by our own efforts.

Follow-Up: Not All Commands are the Same

It’s important to recognize that these Bible verses point us to God, and how we should respond to Him. If we love Him, we will obey Him… like a child who trusts our loving Father.

These verses, however, do not all point to the same commands. The Hebrew word in Exodus 20 – misva – can mean ANY command… whether from God, from another person, or it can even mean a wise saying. The Greek word in John 14:15 – entole – can mean an order, a command, a precept (a general rule), or any authoritative instruction. Many of the commands in Exodus and Deuteronomy, for example, were given only to the ancient Israelites. Those commands related to living as a nation in the Promised Land, and never applied to anyone else.

Each command must be read in context to learn who it was meant for, and how to obey it. For example, the apostle Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach. This isn’t a universal command for all people, of course. The point of this article is not to suggest that all Christians should follow all commands they find in the Bible. That’s not possible, and it’s certainly not a good idea. As we read the Bible carefully we will learn to read it as it was written and avoid such simple mistakes.

Conclusion

Let me encourage you to first consider the reason that God wants you to love Him. It’s because He loves you, and wants the very best for you. If we understand His love for us, it will be easy to love Him in return because we know we can trust Him. Then, because we trust Him, obeying Him will become a joy and an honor, knowing that we’re part of His good plan for everyone.

Let me know if you have any questions.

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