Jesus gave the answer in John 14, where we read: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (John 14:21)
Jesus is describing a love relationship in which He reveals Who He is, allowing us to know Him in a highly personal way. To whom does He reveal Himself? To whoever obeys. When I obey, I’m expressing my love to Him, and He is free to express His love in and through and to me. All in response to the choices I’m making—choosing to spend time with Him, in prayer and in His Word, choosing to neither grieve nor quench His Holy Spirit within me.
In Experiencing God authors Henry Blackaby and Claude King write, “Everything in your Christian life, everything about knowing the Lord and experiencing Him, everything about knowing His will, depends on the quality of your love relationship to God.” [Henry Blackaby, Claude King, Experiencing God, p.44]
Our Lord wants to have a personal, love relationship with us, one in which we learn to live the abiding life, to discern the prompting of His Spirit, to be confident that we know and do His will. Everything in our Christian life depends on it.
Our prayer—Lord, we not only want to tell You we love You, but we want to show You by the way we live. We need Your help, and we ask for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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