If You Love Me: Austin Shanley
“Jesus said to his disciples:
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him." (John 14:15-21)
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
This is quite a heavy burden Jesus seems to be putting on us. The commands that He gives throughout his ministry are the toughest teachings to follow that anyone has ever heard. He teaches us to love & forgive our enemies rather than hate them. He teaches us to help the sick & the poor even if we feel it won’t do any good. He teaches us to abstain from all forms of sexual immorality no matter how tempted we may become. He teaches us that we are to be his hands & feet & to show His love to the world.
With such a burden before us, it is tempting to try and reinterpret his commandments to make them easier to swallow, easier to achieve, or “more realistic” rather than accept the teachings simply as they are. Anyone who has had the privilege of reading Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer knows exactly what I am talking about.
However, this teaching that Jesus is giving to us here in the book of John is not a “you need to do better” teaching, but it is a promise of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus says, “you will obey my commandments,” what He means it that if you love me, you will have the Holy Spirit. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be able to keep his commandments. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts us of our sins and calls us to repentance. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to be disciples & teaches us how to disciple others. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to read God’s word & who brings God’s word to life.
With the Holy Spirit working in us in all of these ways, keeping Jesus’ commandments are actually not burdensome at all. We don’t have to make his commands more accessible for us to follow, we have to believe that the Holy Spirit will help us keep them. We don’t have to accept failure & give up when we fall short over & over again. We have to ask for God’s forgiveness & then continue to run the race with the confidence that it won’t happen next time.
All in all, remember that Jesus did not return to heaven to leave us here as orphans. He gave us the Holy Spirit so that He would live inside of us for all eternity. Amen.
Austin Shanley is a dedicated disciple of Christ and friend to us at The Wesley. A member of this year’s Discipleship Team, he has a passion for encouraging and leading others in their faith. Austin enjoys mountain biking, fishing, playing video games, and hanging out with friends. He currently works a a quality technician at Mid South Extrusion in Monroe, LA. We’re blessed to have him in our community!