“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:31
“I will do it because you asked me to,” I told the Lord. “And love says yes.”
The Lord had just reminded me of something He had told me to do. Not something I necessarily understood. Not necessarily something I wanted to do. Nevertheless something the Lord had instructed me to do. He by His Spirit through His Word had brought me a long way.
Before I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, I lived entirely for myself. When I came to believe in Him, I continued to live for myself until the Lord led me to repentance and began to teach me how to follow Him. Following Christ involves faith, love, and obedience. It involves saying NO to self and YES to Christ. But the truth is much of the time, I wanted to obey God because I didn’t like the consequences of my sin and because I felt obligated. Then the Lord led me to a new place. In Christ. In fellowship with Him. In a forever love affair with the Lord of the universe!
He led me to a deeply personal, deeply intimate, ever growing, ever closer relationship with Himself. He began to shower His love upon me, and to woo me ever nearer to Him. The more I came to know Him, the more in awe of Him I became, the more in love with Him I fell, the greater my yearning to please Him. Obedience took on a new meaning for me. I came to want to obey Him because of my ever deepening reverence for Him, and because of my ever growing love for Him.
Obedience for me has become an act of loving and honoring and worshiping the Lord with whom because of the blood He shed on the cross for me to atone for my sins I will spend forever.
My relationship with Him continues to grow, He continues to pour out His love upon me, I continue to grow in my love for Him, and my desire to obey Him to demonstrate my love for Him carries on.
Love says yes – to the Lord!