Love God, THEN obey his commands
In 1 John 5, we read a very basic understanding of earthly love towards Father. In my basic experience of Christianity, I have found this verse to be grossly misunderstood, and as a result it has led to much hurt and confusion in the "Christian" community. Many have read the first half of verse three which states, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments," but stop there. This can be very dangerous, and in my personal opinion has led many leaders to blindly fall into a type of manipulation. Are they quoting scripture? Absolutely. BUT when this part of the verse is left to itself the intention becomes shifted ever so slightly, and the verse becomes performance based. How many pastors and priests tell their congregations "don't do this or that, but do these things over here"? The devil has been so clever in blocking full revelation of this verse, and it sickens me that children of God everywhere are falling under this sort of oppression. How does it oppress? By distorting this verse in this manner, Satan has reduced the Good News of Grace and Love to a list of "do's and don'ts." When the list is there, it follows naturally that the people "in charge" of the list then begin to judge those who don't fit the bill. Therein lays the trap of the enemy; by shifting the focus of love from the second part of the verse (which I will get to in a moment) to the first, he has established a controlling spirit in the church that can give a sense of false righteousness to the leaders, and a sense of condemnation to those being told they don't love God because they aren't following the list to a tee.
Let's take a look at the second half of that verse and see the liberating power to be grabbed hold of.
1 John 5:3 "… and His commandments are not burdensome."
What does that mean!? Verse 4 qualifies the previous statement
"4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith."
We see here that it is our faith (the [inner] conviction that God exists, and He is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and the bestower of eternal salvation through Christ) is responsible for overcoming the world. As we grow in our INNER personal convictions that Jesus is Lord, and that Father God has overcome evil once and for all, we become OUTWARDLY victorious over the things of this world [sin]. Therefore, as personal faith increases through consistent pressing into the things of Father God, we become inwardly transformed in love to overcome sin of the external world, which allows us to fulfill God's commands WITHOUT burden. John is talking about holiness; as we get closer to God, we become more aware of the stench of sin that we carry, and just throw things off our lives small chunks at a time as we find the grace to do so. You cannot impress God anymore than you already do, He isn’t after your actions; He is after your heart. Give him that and the rest of you will follow.
This Walk has nothing to do with not doing the bad things and trying to be good. It has EVERYTHING to do with being yourself and allowing yourself to fall madly in Love with the uncreated, unmoved, invincible power that is inescapably bent on possessing you. Press into God, and the stench of the world will naturally be consumed bit by bit.
Created over 1 year ago
