If You Love Jesus…

February 17, 2026

Do you love Jesus? I mean really love Him? It is of utmost importance that we develop a true love for Jesus, because loving Him is the key to a deeper, more satisfying, more obedient spiritual life. Here is what I mean: Jesus said to His apostles in John 14, “…If anyone loves me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23 NASB95). What tremendous promises flow from loving Jesus! Loving Jesus leads us to obeying Jesus. Loving Jesus leads to receiving a special love from the Father Himself. Loving Jesus leads to the Father and Son coming into us to live within us. But it all starts with love!

Let us examine the first part of Jesus’ statement: “If anyone loves me, he will keep My word.” Notice that love comes first and obedience is the result. If we love Him, then we will obey Him.

And don’t we have every reason to love Jesus? We love Jesus because of what He has done. It was Jesus who loved us first. It was Jesus who sought us out while we were yet sinners. It was Jesus who gave His life for us when we had nothing to offer Him in return. His death on our behalf was the ultimate expression of love for us. Not only this, but we love Jesus because of who He is. We marvel at His power, His grace, His humility, His compassion. As we think of these attributes of Jesus, how could we not love Him?

And what does it mean to love Him? It may be helpful to think about what it means to love the special people in your life. We delight in the people we love. We are drawn to them because of their qualities. We want to be near to them. In a similar way, to love Jesus is to cherish Him for who He is, to delight in Him, and to desire a close relationship with Him.

And this kind of love for Jesus is the key to living a life of obedience. Think about this: the next time you are faced with temptation, think about your love for Jesus. Say to Him, “Lord, I will turn away from my sinful desires because I love you so much.” Say to yourself, “How could I hurt my Lord Jesus by continuing in this sin?”  Our love for Him is a powerful motivator to keep walking with Him.

Today, let us reflect on all the many reasons we have for loving Jesus. May our love for Him control every aspect of our lives and empower a willing, joyful obedience to Him that comes from the heart.

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

Love, the Driver of Obedience

July 5, 2022

Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 NASB) There is a deep connection between our love for Jesus and our obedience to Him.  These powerful words of Jesus are simply stated, but I don’t think I have always understood them properly.

In the past, in my mind, I basically flipped the statement around to say, “If I keep His commandments, then I will really prove that I love Him.”  In other words, I believed that commandment keeping was the way in which I could show my love for Jesus. Or, with a slightly different nuance, one might say love and obedience are the same thing.  I’m not saying that these thoughts are wrong or unbiblical (see for example 1 John 5:3), but I don’t think they capture what Jesus was saying in John 14:15.

I believe Jesus was saying that love is the driver of obedience.  Love for Jesus is the force that motivates our obedience to Jesus.  If we love Him, keeping His commandments will follow as a natural consequence of that love. 

What does it mean, then, to love Jesus?  It means to cherish Him, to delight in Him, to take immense pleasure in Him, and to have great satisfaction in Him.  When is the last time you just took time to marvel at Jesus and delight in Him?  When is the last time you took time to praise and adore Him for everything He is, everything He has done, and everything He is doing now?  When is the last time you have expressed your love to Him without any other agenda in your mind?  As our love for Jesus grows, our desire to keep His commandments will grow.  Why?  Because we will want to please the One we love.  We will want to be near to Him and be like Him. When we love Him, keeping His commandments will not be a burden, but love in action.

And this love is not a one-way street.  He loves us, too!  Of course, He loves all mankind, but He loves His disciples in a very special way.  As Jesus says later in the same passage, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” (John 14:21 NASB)

Not only will the Father and Son love us, but Jesus promises to disclose Himself to us.  What a blessed thought!  May our love for Jesus be ever growing.     

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin