Day 88 · Week 13
Passage: Matthew 22:35–40; John 14:15
Memory Verse: Matthew 5:17
John 14:15 (KJV)
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Sometimes people place love and obedience on opposite sides, as though we must choose one or the other.
Jesus did not.
When asked about the great commandment, He said we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Then He said, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Love is not a replacement for God's moral law. Love is what the law is describing.
The first commandments teach us how love responds to God: worship Him alone, honor His name, remember His holy time. The remaining commandments show how love treats other people: honoring parents, protecting life, preserving faithfulness, respecting property, telling truth, and refusing covetousness.
Obedience without love can become cold rule keeping. Claims of love without obedience can become empty words.
Jesus brings the two together: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
We do not obey in order to make Jesus love us. We obey because He has loved and saved us, and because we trust that His ways are good.
How do God's commandments help explain what love looks like in real life?
Choose one commandment and discuss the kind of love that lies behind it.
Thank Jesus for loving your family first. Ask Him to make your obedience a response of love rather than merely outward rule keeping.