Love, Obey, Thrive

Day 145: John 14:15-31

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever." - John 14:15-16 ESV

These two verses are some of the most powerfully practical that you'll find in all of John's Jesus biography. Three things immediately jump out as we look a little deeper:

#1 LOVE - Relationship needs to precede right living. Before we step into a life of obedience to Jesus, we need to establish a healthy relationship with Him. We love and trust Jesus first and foremost. We can depend on Him! How has your prayer life been lately?

#2 OBEY - Obedience isn't optional; it is to be expected. As we love and interact with Jesus, our lives will be transformed. This is manifested in the way that we serve our families and those around us. It is even shown in the way we love our enemies. The Apostle Paul described it as, "...the obedience that comes from faith." (Romans 1:5, NIV)

# 3 THRIVE - Does this seem daunting? Feel inadequate to accomplish what God is asking you to do? Never fear. The Holy Spirit is our Helper (parakletos - advocate). Where we are insufficient, He is more than enough to make us adequate.

Don't you love how intentional Jesus was in using these final moments to prepare His disciples for what was to come? He is doing the same for us today. May we move forward with the God of all creation on our side. We can't lose.

"It is somewhat startling to find the great promise that follows conditionated by loving obedience, seeing that love and obedience in any sinful man, love to Christ itself, are elsewhere made the work of the Holy Spirit. But we here come across that which often perplexes the student, viz. the contrast between the general idea of the constant and continuous work of grace in human hearts, and the special manifestation in personal glory and Divine activity of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost."
- Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. (1909). St. John (Vol. 2, pp. 225–226)