LOVE BRINGS OBEDIENCE

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”  John 14:21

Obedience to God’s commands comes from your heart.  When you begin struggling to obey God that is a clear indication that your heart has shifted away from Him.  I have heard some claim: “I love God, but I’m having difficulty obeying Him in certain areas of my life.”  I understand what you are dealing with in the natural but that cannot be in the spiritual.  Genuine love for God leads to wholehearted obedience.  You see, obedience without love is legalism.  Obedience for its own sake can be nothing more than perfectionism, which leads to pride.  Many of us seek to cultivate discipline in our lives to be more obedient to Christ.  As helpful as spiritual disciplines can be, they never can replace your love for God.  Love is the discipline!  God looks beyond our godly habits, beyond our moral lifestyle, and beyond our church involvement and focuses His penetrating gaze upon our heart.

I challenge you this month, return to your first LOVE.  LOVE is the greatest motivation for a relationship with God and for serving HIM.

God loves you and so do I.

Ordered in His steps,

Carolyn