Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). What did He mean? It appears to put "love" at the root of "obey." But ... what does He mean?
Jesus made it clear what the great commandment was. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt 22:37). Love is the command ... specifically love for God. But the word isn't one of warm affection. It is a sacrificial love that sets self aside and concerns itself most with the loved one. It is unconditional. You know, the patient and kind love. The love that doesn't seek its own. The love that rejoices with the truth. That kind (1 Cor 13:4-8). So it's not a feeling; it's a choice. And Jesus said, "If you love Me (like that), you will keep My commandments." If we are primarily concerned with God's best interests, we will obey His commandments.
Some people get confused. They think that the proper motivation for obedience is a warm, fuzzy feeling for God. To obey correctly we should feel good toward God. "If you're just ... obeying ... that's not right." That's not the point of the text. The point is that obedience is a proper expression of the love that we are commanded to have for God. Because that's in God's best interest. Because we want to glorify Him in everything we do (1 Cor 10:31). Because we love Him.
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In the other hand, if you're just obeying for obedience sake, you're also not living God. Enter the Pharisees, they were hyper-obedient, but without love for God, it resulted in sin. Just like when you are just going through the motions, your spouse can tell. There is a difference between the person obeying the speed limit for practical or personal reasons versus the person obeying the speed limit out of respect for God and His commands. It's why, without Christ, when our best works are as soiled rags when they are not done for Christ's sake. Motivation matters.
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