This is Love for God [1 John 5:3]

1Jn 5:3 For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden,

As you can probably tell, I am liking this study out of 1 John. So, today we are going to continuing looking at this book, but moving on to the next chapter, chapter 5. Leading up to this we have talked about out love for God and reaching perfection in love. What was that? It was when we fall so in love with Christ, that there is not more discipline that has to occur. The passage talked about there being “no fear in love.” The fear was the fear of punishment. Next, we talked about our love for other Christians and how we claim to “love God,” but turn right around and hate our brother. What did John call this kind of person? A liar. We were posed with the question of how we can love God whom we can not see, yet not love our brother whom we can? Today we are going to continue looking at this idea of love, but jump back to loving God. So, let’s jump into it!

In verse three, John gives us a very basic definition of what love for God is: Keeping His commands. Initially, I thought: “So, if I force myself to follow the commands of God, that means I love Him, right?” I’m going to say no. This is saying that keeping God’s commands is the natural response of those who love Him.

“Yeah, but God’s commands are just a set of rules, they are too hard to follow.” The text says that God commands are not a burden. The Greek word here actually means “heavy.” God’s commands are not “so far out there” that we are not able to do them. If we get our hearts right with God, meaning we are at a good relational status with Him, we won’t even see his commands as a burden. As I said before, they will just be a natural response out of love.

To finish this up, I like what Matthew Barnes says on this verse, “They find His service easier than the service of sin.” Who is talking of here? He is talking about Christians that are so in love with God it is unexplainable. To them, sin’s commands seem like a burden, they seem “heavy.”
Where are you at? Do you naturally obey God’s commands or are there areas where your love for Him just is not complete? I think most of us would fall into the second category, but I want to provide you with a little encouragement here. I think many times when we read Scripture and especially passages like this, we make ourselves think that the bar set by God is “just a little too high.” Let me tell you something, you can achieve this “perfection in love” we have covered over the past few days; it is within reach. The only question is what are YOU doing that is holding YOU back? God’s already there and waiting to help you along the way, you just have to say, “I’m ready.”

Aaron Taylor