“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” (1 John 5:1-3)
As Christians we believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) and because we believe that, we are “born again” into the family of God. This makes us children of God spiritually, but we are also His children because He created us (humanity). Being human is not enough to get you a ticket to heaven though, you must also be a born again child of God through belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior. After we are saved (born again), this love we have for Jesus must also translate into love for others that are “begotten of him” (other Christians). We are called by God to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Verbally sharing my love is not something I’m good at, but I’m working on it. I’m shy and quiet so I often appear distant and unapproachable. That’s one of the reasons I write, because I express my love for my friends, family and Christian family much better when I write how I feel.
When we show our love for our fellow Christians, we show God and the world that we love God. When we keep God’s commandments we also show our love for God. This action of keeping the commandments also shows the world how much we love God. The last statement in these 3 verses is that, “his commandments are not grievous.” Grievous means critical or serious, so if the commandments are, “not grievous” what does God mean? Well, it means that keeping the commandments will never help you work your way into Heaven, are not required for salvation, and once saved, are not a requirement to retain your salvation. In other words, as Christians, we keep the commandments because we love and respect our Lord and Savior. We keep the commandments as a form of worship to our loving, gracious and generous God. We keep the commandments as an outward witness to our love for the Word of God, our fellow Christians, our neighbors and most importantly, our love for our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus – God the Son.
I pray that our precious Lord fills you with love for fellow Christians and a yearning to learn and follow His commandments out of pure love, respect and worship. Amen!