When new believers hear this “if you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15), it sometimes produces strong feelings of resistance on them, because this involves obeying God’s commands and godly obedience is not ‘natural’ for a human being because of our sinful nature. But if we look into what Jesus is telling us, we should understand that His will for us is actually to live the new lifestyle He has freely offered us, when we do what He says. My brother, my sister, you yourself have a home or your own territory and you have set rules, and whoever goes against your rules makes you either angry, frustrated or anyhow maks you react. But, Jesus does not get angry when we disobey His commands. He becomes sad for us, because we are only showing Him that we do not have enough trust in Him, that we are not yet ready to live the new lifestyle He has offered us.
You see, a good foundation is essential for a house to stand strong. Jesus only wants you to know that obeying God will give your life a solid foundation to stand against any fear, any problem, any adversity in this life. Today’s verse says: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose”. How does He do it? Through His Spirit who lives within you who believe in Jesus Christ. In other words, God has made things in a way that nobody will be able to explain to Him why he/she was not able to obey His commands. That is why, there will be two different judgments after Jesus comes back:
– The first judgment is that of the believers who will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10-12): INDIVIDUALLY, they will give an account of themselves and the Lord will judge the decisions he made in this life. This judgment does not determine salvation, which is by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), but rather is the time when believers must give an account of their lives in service to Christ.
– The second judgment is that of unbelievers who will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). This judgment does not determine salvation either. Everyone at the Great White Throne is an unbeliever who has rejected Christ in this life and is therefore already doomed to the lake of fire. In other words, those who rejected Christ as Lord and Saviour will be judged based on their works alone, but the Bible says that “a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16), it would therefore be very difficult if not impossible for them not to be condemned. Therefore, because Christ’s return is near, God is making the Gospel to spread faster and faster these days to reach the ends of the earth (Mark 16:15), so that no one could stand before Him and say: “I have never heard of Jesus, that is the reason why I did not accept Him as my Lord and Saviour”.
Now, for us who already believe in Jesus, allow this meditation to be our mirror so we can see the areas of our lives where we obey God and those where we still resist His Word. And, truthfully, let’s approach our Father in prayer to ask Him to show us how to keep His commandments and to give us the strength to do so. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.