Promises of Love

John 14.15  If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

John 14:23  Jesus answered 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 home with him.”

These are promises, not ultimatums. They stem from The Greatest Commandment in Matthew 22.37-40

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

And from 1John 4.19 We love him, because he first loved us.

In and of ourselves, we are unable to love God. He quickens our spirit through His love, and then we are able to love Him. As we surrender to Him, we receive His love more and more. As we love Him, we desire more and more to know Him more deeply, to know His commandments, and to keep His commandments. He fills us with desire for Him, and His desire is for us to find true joy, peace, and love in Him, His way. That’s how He designed us.