You Can Do It!!

“If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15-16). A call to love, or a call to obedience? It is both. And it is possible. But I can no longer count the number of times I have heard the following responses and others similar:

“You don’t understand. I just can’t do that.” forgive, be kind, study harder
“It’s too much to ask. God doesn’t really expect that does He? Not today at least. Maybe in Bible times, but that just doesn’t apply today.” stay pure, give of self and finances
“It was just a little white lie, no harm was done. Besides, it was for a good cause” be honest, have integrity
“But I think God understands how much I wanted this, how much I needed it.” avoid debt, be patient, be content
“Oh they’ll grow out of it. It’s just a phase. but it’s so cute at this age! It’s just not right to make them do something they don’t want to do.” discipline children, teach and train for godly character, set boundaries


I could go on. If there is an issue we deal with today the Scripture addresses it. God has a way for things to be handled. He knows the outcome of the right (righteous) response to His Word. Is obedience too much to ask of His children when He has done so much for us? And it is for our good always. His call to obedience is with our best interest in mind, because He loves us, not because He is a tyrant that enjoys having his subjects in paltry servitude.

Now, about a call to love. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” This raises a few questions. Can we keep His commandments apart from loving Him? If I don’t keep His commandments, does this mean I don’t truly love Him, or love Him as I should? This verse infers that our love for Christ is questionable at the least. We see in Revelation 2: 1-6 that it is possible to be doing right things but our love and devotion to our Savior not be all it could or should be.

Our love is fickle; it is weak; it is often merely emotional. And, it is dependent on Him who is Love. I John 4:10 says that we love Him because He first loved us. The more important fact is that Christ loves us. God loves us enough to not leave us in the wretched condition He first finds us in. And a life without Christ, at its very best, is still wretched with eternity in view. Embracing His love and growing in an understanding of His love for us enables us to love Him in return. In so doing, we find a desire to obey that can grow strong.

When it does not seem possible to obey as the Lord would have us to, no matter what the situation or issue, we can be confident He has already made a way for us to do what He has asked. Immediately after Jesus speaks to his disciples and says “If you love me, keep my commandments”, He continues saying,
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14: 16-17).

After walking with His disciples for three years Jesus knew they would question their ability to love Him…consider Peter and his denial of Christ, then Jesus in John 21 penetrating Peter’s heart with the simple question, “Do you love me?” They would need His power to love and obey. And He sent it in the work and person of the Holy Spirit to live in us, just as He promised. In I Corinthians 3:16, “don’t you realize the Spirit of God lives in you?” (my paraphrase) And again in Romans 8:9, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His”. If we belong to Christ then the Holy Spirit dwells in us and longs to empower us to obey.

Consider this: if a bill needs to be paid and the money is in the bank to be used to pay it, but we say we cannot, we either deny or ignore the resources available to us. Or, we do not expend the effort or do what is necessary to have the funds applied. In the same way, there is first the choice to obey, then the effort or process of actually following through.

The choice? “By God’s grace, I will obey.”
The effort? Pray; seek accountability, encouragement or counsel; read His Word; set aside time for worship and service; avoid situations that make it easier to disobey.

If we love Him we are to keep His commandments. Not keeping them is to communicate otherwise. We can fool ourselves, we can fool others, but God is not fooled. And it is the relationship with Him that is most important. We can obey more, and we can love Him always. And we have all the Help we need to do so.