Depth of love is measured in action, not words.
It is not the ones who SAY they love Jesus who actually love Him. If ALL they do is talk about their love, their love isn’t much to talk about. True love is DEMONSTRATED, day after day and situation after situation. True love is walked out in our actions.
Jesus put it this way. He said, “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me.”
Following Jesus requires actively obeying Him, not just thinking about Him or reading about Him. Of course the ones we love want us to tell them that we love them. But if ALL we do is tell them, then we don’t truly love them. Our love must be reflected in our actions.
I recall a great example I heard from Francis Chan relating to how we deal with our kids.
When we tell them to go and clean their room. Surprise of surprise, we ACTUALLY want them to DO IT !!! The intended result of our instruction is active obedience and a clean room. If we ask the child later on or the next day if the room has been cleaned, we expect that they have obeyed. No parent would be satisfied with this answer ….
“Well, Dad, I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about cleaning my room. In fact, I’ve read some great articles about how to clean a room very effectively. The authors are amazing, very insightful and even encouraging. I’ve thought about what specific things would need to be done so my room could get clean. Later today, a few of my friends and I are going to get together and discuss the benefits of cleaning our rooms. Cleaning my room is really something I want to embrace.”
The issue is that THE ROOM HAS NOT BEEN CLEANED. And that’s the measure of obedience, in this example.
If you would never accept the excuse mentioned above, what makes you think God will accept a similar one from you?
Following Jesus requires actively obeying Him, not just thinking about Him or reading about Him. The Apostle Paul speaks in Ephesians of us knowing the love of God that is beyond knowledge . We kind of know, so we kind of follow Jesus. But if we really knew, we would really follow; we would give up everything to follow closer. WALKING in that love deepens our understanding, draws us closer, and allows us to experience more deep in our hearts than our small minds can comprehend.
The theology that matters is not the theology we profess but the theology we practice.
We demonstrate our love by our actions, by our obedience.
Go clean YOUR room.
