When someone loves another person they will generally try to do things that will please the one they love. That seems fairly obvious. If a person says they really love another person, but their actions show a complete disregard to the other one’s feelings, happiness, and wishes, then we really must question if they do love the other, or if it is just words. Our Scripture for today is from the Gospel of John, and comes from part of the discourse that the Lord Jesus gave to the disciples right before the Last Supper. Here the Lord spoke of what one of the signs are if someone claims to love Him.
As we open our Scripture, Jesus speaks very clearly to us, saying that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (vs. 15). This is a rather clear statement. There’s not too much room for misunderstanding or reinterpreting what that means. If we love the Lord Jesus, we will do what He says. Jesus isn’t just referring to the Ten Commandments. Though the Ten Commandments would be a part of this, it is referring to all of God’s Word, the Bible. The Lord Jesus didn’t say that if we love Him we will keep some of His commandments, that we will keep only those ones that we like, the ones we happen to agree with. A lot of people who say they love Jesus have fallen into that error, thinking they can just obey certain parts of the Bible and toss out the rest. Jesus said that those who love Him will keep His commandments, all of them. He didn’t say we could pick and choose what we want. God’s Word is not a buffet table, where we pick just what we like, and leave the rest.
As He continued, Jesus gave His promise of sending believers a Helper, the Holy Spirit, which would come on the Day of Pentecost (vs. 16-17). The more that we keep the commands of Jesus Christ, the fuller and more abundant that our life becomes as our obedience enables His Holy Spirit to guide and direct our thoughts and ways.
The Greek word that was translated as “Helper” is “parakletos”, which means someone who is called alongside of another, one who is called to another’s aid. It also means someone who pleads another’s cause, an intercessor. Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, Who is our Advocate, called alongside for aid in times of trouble. He promised that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to us. He is the very presence of God within all believers, helping us to live as God wants, and building His Church. By faith we can appropriate the Spirit’s power each day.
When Jesus said that He would send “another” (vs. 16) He was referring to Someone like Jesus Himself, who will take His place and do His work. The Holy Spirit has the same essence of Deity as Jesus, and is perfectly One with Him as He is with the Father. The Holy Spirit is the source of Truth, and communicates the Truth to His own. Apart from Him, no one can know God’s truth (vs. 17). Only born-again believers can understand the Holy Spirit and know Him.
As we close this Scripture passage, we see that if we want to have a blessed life, we need to act and obey the way that Jesus teaches us to in His Word (vs. 21). It doesn’t matter how often we read through the Bible, or how many verses we memorize, if we don’t follow what is in those passages that we have read and memorized it is meaningless. What matters is obeying God’s Word. Obedience honors and pleases God. Do we truly love God? If we do, we will do what He says. We will obey the whole of the Bible, not just picking and choosing those parts we like.
In closing, though we know that Jesus went physically to heaven, He is present with all believers through His Spirit wherever we are, wherever we go, and with every step we take. We have His promise. He is always with us!
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