John 14:15 NASB95
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Most people interpret this verse backwards. They interpret it as Jesus saying, “Keeping my commandments as proof that you love me.” There is certainly truth in that, but I believe that Jesus is actually telling us how to cultivate a surrendered heart that will keep His commandments. He is saying, “Being in love with me postures a heart to want to keep My commandments.” In other words, if you want to live a life of obedience, then cultivate a heart that loves Jesus deeply. A lovesick heart always tenderizes an unyielded will. There is only one path to a lovesick heart, and that is to behold the heart of the lovesick Lord. 1 John 4 says that “we love because He first loved us.” John laid his head on the breast of Jesus and heard the heartbeat of God, and from that moment, John always referred to himself as “The disciple whom Jesus is always loving.” John wrote more about the love of God in Christ than any other New Testament writer. He wrote the book of The Revelation when he was ninety-three years old, exiled on the Isle of Patmos, and in Revelation 1:1 John wrote this; “The unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bondservant John.” John referred to himself at ninety-three years old as the bondservant of Jesus. A bondservant is a slave by choice because of love for their master. John was a volunteer prisoner of love. By the way, of all the apostles he was the only one who stood at the foot of the cross. He was driven by love. I would encourage you to get alone with Jesus until you hear the heartbeat of God and are captured by His great love for you. Make that the rhythm of your life and you too will become a bondservant of Jesus who loves to obey His every command. Obedience will simply become a necessary outlet for love’s expression.