REMAIN IN THE REDEEMER’S LOVE
As the Father has lovedG25 Me, so have I lovedG25 you. Remain in My love.G26 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love,G26 just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.G26
John 15:9-10
Jesus has loved us as He is loved by the Father. God’s love is perfect, unconditional, and everlasting. Jesus’s love for us was manifested when he died on the cross to pay the debt we owed because of our sin. We did not earn or deserve His sacrifice: He chose to take our place because of love and in obedience to God the Father. We are to remain, reside, and be rooted in His love. What does that look like? Jesus states that “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love.” Jesus kept His Father’s commandments perfectly and completely. He was obedient even to death on the cross as we are told in Philippians chapter two. When we obey what is taught in the Bible, we become ever closer to Jesus and even more aware of His abiding love for us. Our salvation is completely by grace through faith that God chose to give us. We cannot lose what Christ died for! However, daily walking in the Spirit, choosing to obey God’s word, intensifies our understanding of the love we have from God and for God. Remaining in His love is accomplished through obedience to God’s will.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
Do we dare to pray this prayer of David each day and then change our lives to line up with whatever God shows us? Do we dare to be obedient to the Lord’s will and ways even when that path seems harder than the one we are currently on? We are quick to ask God to supply things we need, but are we seeking Him above all? “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Seek the Lord in earnest prayer this week. Then move forward in obedience to what the Holy Spirit shows you through God’s word, the Bible.
Father, by the power of Your Holy Spirit living inside us, help us to live in obedience to Your commands as a demonstration of our love for You and our desire to remain in You, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.