1 John 5:1-4

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.

Your actions follow your loves. If you love food, you will eat. If you love the outdoors, you will be outside. If you love shopping, you will fill your house with Amazon boxes.

Christians, we are called to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind (Matt 22:37-38). We can love God because our faith in Christ mended our relationship with God. Those who place their faith and trust in Christ are now children of God. Like a child who obeys their parents out of love, Christians show their love to God by obeying his commandments. These commands point us to holiness, and without them, we would not know our sins. The apostle Paul says that the law of God brings about the knowledge of sin (see Rom 7:1). Thus, God’s commandments are not to overwhelm us but to guide us towards holiness.

His commandments are not burdensome to us, because we follow them out of our love for him! Those who do not love God, or believe in Christ, see his commandments as a binding set of rules. They do not see how those laws can produce holiness because they cannot see righteously. A selfish heart will follow its own path and not the path of obedience to God.

A child of God does not overcome the world through muscle, but through faith in Christ. The world’s stumbling block is spiritual death. It is an obstacle that no one outside of Christ can overcome. If you have faith in Christ, you can rejoice in victory over spiritual death! You are free from the bondage of sin and are alive in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christians, we have much to rejoice in. Obey God because you love him, not fettered by obligation. The English Puritan Thomas Watson said, “Do not only love God but be sick with love to God.” Seek God, but seek God with your whole heart, with all the love you can muster.

-Pastor Brett