. . . ⁵but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: ⁶the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Love for God and obedience to the Word weave together seamlessly, a theme that John reprised here from his gospel account. Jesus said:

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments . . . He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. . . . If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words . . .” (John 14:14, 21–24).

We must be careful not to reduce love for God to a life of do’s and don’ts, for that is a legalistic approach to God, undermining biblical teaching. Yet, Scripture teaches us that our love for Christ is proved genuine by our behavior, not our words. Ecclesiastical, liturgical, or emotional songs and hymns proclaiming our love are easy to sing, but they can be hollow and hypocritical without genuine love for God (see 1 Cor. 13:1–3).

However, sometimes Christians can get this mixed up. Because of his love for Christ, one believer wants to read the Bible every day, seeing that as the desired discipline of daily life. Yet another Christian sees this as legalistic, saying, “Where does the Bible teach that you have to read it?” We see examples of David’s love for the Word (e.g., Psalm 119), where this man of God’s heart couldn’t get enough of the Word. Yet, it is true that the Bible does not command us to read the Bible every day. God does not keep a list and then judge us for missing days. Yet, the one who loves God desires to love what God loves. And therefore, that person loves and reads God’s Word! This is not legalistic but an expression or outworking of our love for Him. Of course, we should not enforce such disciplines of the Christian life on others, but we should take John’s teaching here to heart for ourselves. The Bible teaches that if our behavior is out of line with our proclamations of love, then our words of love are hypocritical.

The same is true for all that Christ taught. Jesus’ command was: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit . . .” (Matt. 28:19). We want to do this. Why? Not out of legalism, but out of love for the One who asked us to do this. The evidence of choosing to love Christ is seen in our discipline of doing as He asks. This is what it means to abide in Him.

PRAYER: Lord, I desire to keep Your Word because I love You, not the praise of legalists.