How We Show Love?

WE SHOW OUR LOVE FOR GOD BY OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS. THEY ARE NOT HARD TO FOLLOW. 1 John 5.3.

Lately, there were two murders, one of a young woman and the other a small toddler. It shook our nation and terrorised the minds of adults and children too! The local papers were full of suggestions by people of all walks of life and various professionals for stopping these atrocious crimes against the innocent! Much of what was said and written was that the criminals should be summarily dealt with by severe corporal punishment and even sent to the gallows!

While wrath and vengeance were reigning in the minds of all, there was a small segment of saner people who voiced a different opinion. They said that no amount of torture or threat of life imprisonment or hanging will deter the would-be criminals! Their minds are bent on wrongdoing and obsessed with what they are after. Moral and spiritual education of the people from young was suggested as the only viable, long-term solution.

The Bible reveals and addresses this moral and spiritual problem of evil and wickedness in all people. It agrees to what the scientists are finding out today - the genes are the problem of all diseases, traits and behaviour! God said, “sin entered the world through one man (Adam, the first man), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” (Rom 5.12).

In the beginning, in order to stop sin, or at least to limit it, God gave the ‘Ten Commandments’ through Moses (Ex 20). But that didn’t stop men from sinning! The terror of judgment and punishment even by death which God instituted did not stop acts of wickedness of man to man, or man to God. We see this all through the Old Testament.

In His wisdom and foreknowledge, God changed His ‘dealings’ with people in the New Testament. God sent His Son Jesus Christ! Through Him God showed His love for man and wooed his love, allegiance and obedience. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn 3.16, 17).

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15.13). That is what the Lord Jesus did for us! He loved us unto death, bearing our sins on the cross! “God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5.8).

Dear believer, you are to show your love to the Saviour who loved and gave His life for you ‘by obeying His commandments!’ Fear of God and His punishment may ‘force’ you to obey Him but ‘only to an extent’. Beyond that, perfect and willing obedience from you can come only from a heart of reciprocal love. If Jesus loved you and gave His life for you, you must show your love to Him by obeying His commandments! The Bible says, "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome" (1 Jn 5.3). When you think of it, every commandment is given either to protect you or your neighbour!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, give me a heart full of love for You because You loved and gave Your life for me. Let my love compel me to obey Your commandments whole-heartedly. Amen.