Week 16 of 52
Obedience and Love
Jesus ties keeping His words to loving Him, not to fear of Him.
Built on John 14:15-24. The night before His death, Jesus tells the disciples plainly what love for Him actually looks like: keeping His commandments, not merely feeling something toward Him.
It is possible to talk about loving Jesus and never once ask what He said to do. It is also possible to keep a long list of rules and never once love the one who gave them. Scripture will not let those two things separate. John 14 has Jesus stating the link himself, on the last night He has with His closest friends, as if He wants it to be the thing they remember above everything else He says that evening.
This week reads obedience the way the Bible presents it: as the shape love takes, not as a separate transaction that earns love. It looks at Abraham, Israel at Sinai, Mary at Nazareth, the rich young ruler, and the apostle John's own later letter, because the theme runs the length of the whole book and none of these accounts say the same thing about it in quite the same way.
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Seven days
Each day is its own devotional
Day 1
If You Love Me
Jesus states the connection before He asks anything else.
John 14:15
Day 2
Abraham Rises Early
Obedience that costs everything, offered without delay.
Genesis 22:3
Day 3
All That the Lord Has Spoken We Will Do
A whole people answers before they have heard the details.
Exodus 19:8
Day 4
Let It Be to Me
Obedience that says yes before understanding the cost.
Luke 1:38
Day 5
One Thing You Lack
A ruler who obeys the rules and walks away from the Lord.
Mark 10:21
Day 6
Doers of the Word
Hearing without doing deceives the hearer, not just the watcher.
James 1:22
Day 7
This Is Love for God
The apostle who leaned on Jesus writes it plainly at the end.
1 John 5:3