“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15, NASB). I used to think of this verse as saying, “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.” I’m sure I’ve quoted it that way. That’s how I thought of it, but that’s not what it says.

Now to be sure, we’re to obey God’s commandments. I’ll start there. But what does the verse say? It says that we will keep His commandments. What’s the difference? To keep means to guard. But it’s a certain kind of guarding. There’s a different word for guarding, meaning to prevent escape. This word, however, means to keep your eye on something. We’re to keep our eyes on His commandments.

In the lesson about the Old Testament as an example (Lesson 32), I talked about how the king was to read the law daily so that he’d fear God and keep, and do, the commandments. Of course, Jesus is the Word (John 1:1). We can keep our eyes on Him, to keep His Word. That’s what abiding is: being with Jesus, seeing Him, talking with Him, knowing Him, all the time. To get to know Him better, we read His Word, but we read it with Him, with Him as our present help and teacher to guide us in His ways. And if we live with Christ in us, beside us, before us, our constant companion, keeping Him and He keeping us, how could we turn aside to sin?

It’s only when we lose sight of His presence that we can do such a thing. The verse isn’t, “If you love Me, then keep My commandments.” It says, “You WILL.” It’s what you’ll do if you love Him. A lack of keeping and doing God’s Word is a lack of love for Him. What can we do about that?

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3, ESV). Our keeping the commandments is the love of God. Love of God. How else could you write that? God’s love. Love of God, the love belongs to God, God’s love. It’s our love for God that keeps us living His Word, but it’s God’s love for us as well. He puts His love in our hearts. The only way we can love God the way we should is to have His love in our hearts. Just like everything, it’s a gift from God and not of ourselves. We choose to receive God’s love and choose to return God’s love. We make the choice to love. When something is drawing your eye, a lust of the flesh, a desire of the flesh or of the mind, you aren’t keeping God’s Word.

Choose for Christ to be the love of your life and don’t let your eye wander. Be faithful to your one true love.