Someone once “corrected” me because I said genuine love for Christ results in obedience to His commands.
She said I didn't understand grace, insisting that Jesus gave only two commands for New Covenant believers: Loving the Lord with all our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40).
She was half-right, but she didn't understand verse 40:
“The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
When Jesus spoke of the two greatest commandments, He was explaining that if we obeyed those two, we'd be obeying all of the others. Or if we obeyed all of the others, we'd be obeying those two.
None of us will obey God's commands perfectly this side of heaven, but we should be seeking to do so.
Christ also made it clear that if we have no desire to obey Him, we don't know or love Him (John 14:15,21,23; John 15:10; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 5:3; 2 John 1:6).
Obedience and good works don't earn salvation, but they prove that our salvation is genuine.
And one of Christ's last commands on earth was this:
"Go and make disciples … teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:18-20
Note #1: There is often confusion about which of the Old Testament commands apply to us today. No need to worry. Just concentrate on all the New Testament commands and you'll be fine. If you want to read more on this subject, check out The Law Collection of four short articles.
Note #2: Some people believe that the "red letter" words of Christ are the only parts of the Bible that are 100% true. To dispel that misunderstanding, check out this link: Only the Words of Christ.
BLN
Good post Gail. Maybi add a few:
ReplyDeleteObedience is an Act out of reverence. Jesus plainly told us to OBEY the Commandments! Breaking one out the 2 is disobedience, and we obey because He saved us.
As children of God, it is a pride and joy of a Father to see His children follows His instructions.