John 14:15-17
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
I recently saw an interview on television. The reporter opened the interview with the question, “what have you been up to?” The Interviewee responded with “helping animals and loving Jesus.” It was wonderful to hear that on national television! However, as the interview proceeded, the interviewee spoke about the people he hated, what he would like to see done to them. He cussed over and over and even flipped off the camera at the conclusion! I am not a genius, but it did not appear to me that He actually loves Jesus! My sentiment could be regarded as judgmental and that it is. Jesus told us to judge with righteous judgement. We are not supposed to use what we hear or see to influence us, but we are to use righteous judgment. It would seem that I am doing exactly the opposite. However, before you come to this conclusion, let us examine what righteous judgement actually is. Righteous judgment is judgment that is established using God’s word as the measuring stick as opposed to what we ourselves surmise. Therefore, if we use the verses above to establish a gauge for who loves Jesus and who does not, judging someone’s actions becomes simple. It is no longer what we think but what the Word tells us. If someone loves Jesus they will keep His commandments. Just saying that you love Jesus is not sufficient, love must be accompanied by action or it is not love. This is why I do not believe that the interviewee that I spoke about loves Jesus. He might in certain situations but not in these circumstances in particular.
To that point, it is possible to love Jesus in one instant and not in the next. In John 15:10 Jesus is very clear when He says : “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…” Thus it is possible that one can step out of their love for Jesus by disobeying His commands. This is precisely why the very next thing that Jesus said was that He would send the Holy Spirit. John 14: 26 makes part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit evident:
John 14:26
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
Jesus wants us to abide in His love and prove to ourselves and to the world that we love Him, so He sent the Holy Spirit to never leave us and to always remind us exactly what the commandments are that we are to walk in. This may be that He just brings to our remembrance something written in the word or it may be situationally specific. Either way, Jesus did not leave us orphans because He loves us and doesn’t want us to fail. He has proven that even when we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.
To understand that the Father sent His Spirit down to us in order that He may {among other things} bring to our remembrance all things that Jesus said to us so that we may consistently abide in His love should provoke in us a deep appreciation and thanksgiving toward God the Father. This is love in action that extends far beyond the beginning of salvation…. it exhibits a daily intimate and deliberate relationship! Thanks be to God!!
Lastly, Jesus Himself demonstrates the motive behind why the Holy Spirit is sent to us by His statement in John 14:31a which says:
“But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do…"
He wanted the world to know that He loved the Father and that He did what the Father commanded him but why? Simply because the world needs a touchpoint to God. The World needs to know where to look, where to go when they want to begin a relationship with their Creator. This is the exact same reason that God wants us to do what we are instructed to do by Him. And if we happen to forget or feel incapable of doing what was asked of us, God sent the Holy Spirit to remind us and to help us!!!
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