Following Jesus 58

I am a follower of Jesus. This means I am one of His disciples who seeks to follow His leading, and obey His biblical teachings. This results in me, by the Holy Spirit, becoming more like Him in my character. Character refers to a person’s thinking, emotions and will which evidence an integrity, strength, uprightness and a strong moral fiber of obedience to God’s Word.

 

In a Christian sub-culture which often stresses a subjective, sentimental and emotional commitment to Jesus, following Him can become blurred, unclear and no longer based upon the foundation of objective truth. Jesus did not mean for this to happen. He made it quite clear what following Him meant. He said, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15; 14:21-23; 15:10; I John 2:3-6; I John 5:1-3; 2 John 6). 

 

Please notice the cause and effect relationship Jesus makes in this statement if we are one of His followers. The causal statement is “If you love Me!” As a follower of Jesus, I belong in a particular category of people and so do you. The category or group to which Jesus refers are those who love Him. The love Jesus speaks of is not a subjective, sentimental, and emotionally based feeling. Rather, it is a self-sacrificial love of the will which results in behavior that goes beyond one’s emotions. 

 

Jesus does not leave the reader guessing as to what type of behavior evidences a genuine love for Him. The answer is found in the “effect” part of Jesus’ statement. A love for Jesus is displayed not by subjective sentiment or emotion, regardless of how sincere the sentiment and emotions are. Rather, a love for Jesus by a follower of Jesus is displayed by an obedience to Jesus’ commandments. The commandments to which Jesus refers are not only the ethical commands found in the immediate context of John 14, but also in the entire revelation from God the Father which is the Word of God (Psalm 1; Psalm 19; Psalm 119; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

 

If we truly love Jesus, Jesus says we will obey His commandments. Let us look a few of those commandments. Ten come to mind.