Dwelling equals guidance

If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. (John 14:23-24 MSG)

Jesus has just finished saying that a "loveless world is a sightless world" in response to Judas asking if Jesus was about to make himself plain to his disciples but not to the world at large. If anyone loves me - we must all answer to that standard - no one is exempt. The world wasn't ready to embrace him, but they would be given the chance to do so - their heart needed his love more than they knew it. Without his love, we all live 'sightless' lives, for we cannot truly see the goodness of God apart from his love indwelling our hearts.

Loving God means we will reveal evidence of that love toward him through our obedience to his Word. His instructions, all of them, lay before us. We make an active choice to either follow those instructions or reject them as meaningless or worthless to us. Consider for a moment what it means to keep his commandments. If we were honest here, we'd take note of just how 'careful' one must be to keep them. It is easy to casually 'consider' them before we take some form of action - it is quite another to carefully consider their impact and actively choose to follow them regardless of the cost.

Whenever we choose to ignore his counsel, choosing our own way over his, we make an active choice toward disobedience. Those may be hard words for us to receive today, but they are truth. We are choosing to not love him whenever we choose to ignore his counsel. We are choosing to love ourselves more, focusing on what benefit we will receive by ignoring his counsel, thinking that 'benefit' will outweigh the benefit of keeping his commands. What a silly supposition! The benefit of compromise never outweighs the blessing of obedience!

The benefits of keeping his commands always outweigh the benefits of compromise, but our emotions will frequently attempt to convince us otherwise. Why? We are creatures of habit and as such, we are creatures of comfort. We gravitate toward what seems to bring us 'comfort' in any form - even if that 'comfort' comes through overeating, over-indulging in an addictive substance, or overspending. Look where compromise leads us - into the 'overdoing' of whatever God has declared is not good for us! When we choose to give a little, sin's pull takes a lot. Sin has a way of dragging us into a current we find difficult to resist!

The one who wants to experience the fullness of God's love will invite that love within. Where his love dwells, his Word guides. We cannot have one without the other. Just sayin!