If you love me, keep my Commandments!

In John 14:15 Jesus told His disciples, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

What are the commandments that Jesus was talking about? I think the answer is found in
Matthew 22:34-40

" ³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵ Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

When we love God and love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves all the laws of God will be fulfilled. If you love another person as much as you love yourself you won't cheat or steal from anyone. You won't lie or talk badly about anyone. You will respect another persons property and their reputation.

A practicing Christian is aware of this kind of love and strives to fulfill this command from Jesus. To love others as much as we love ourselves is a major undertaking for most of us. It is only through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and constant fellowship with God that we can approach fulfilling this command. Why? This may hard for you to believe, but people are hard to love sometimes. But that is what we are called to do as practicing Christians. Turn the other cheek, forgive and forget, pray for our enemies, do good to those who are mean to us.

There was another mystery regarding these two commands that Jesus gave, "How can I love God?" Someone who is out there somewhere and who is the ruler of the universe. I mean what do I have to do to Love Him?

I think Jesus answers this for us in

Matthew 25:34-40

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clotheYou? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

We love God by loving those who have needs that we can fulfill. Jesus made being a practicing Christian practical. He gave us a method of loving God and loving one another. Which leads me back to the question I asked last night, "Are you a practicing Christian?"

There is a blessing in loving the unlovable, doing good to those who persecute us, and in feeding the poor, clothing the naked, befriending the stranger.   It is my prayer for Praise Community Fellowship that we learn to fulfill these commandments to our greatest ability. Will we fail at times? I hate to say yes but we are human and we will.  The good news is, we are going to continue to become better and better practicing Christians!  God has a plan for your life!   Love you all, sincerely, Kent