Real Love Leads to Obedience ALWAYS
The false notion that "love is unconditional affirmation" is actually the opposite of true love. God is the standard of our definition of love and He calls us to obey!
Maybe it’s my age, but I am increasingly convinced that the word “love” is deeply misunderstood by today’s culture. It all strikes me as mere sentimentality, or worse, actual cowardice that leads us to believe that love means never correcting someone.
But “love” in a Christian sense is much deeper than a mere feeling or emotion.
Love is a choice!
Love can never be defined as anything smaller than God’s love. He sets the standard for what love means. And the Church understands this!
Our Gospel writer, St. John, will go on to write in his first epistle, “God IS love.” (1 John 4:8)
So, either we insist that this is the standard by which true love is known and recognized, or we settle for a false “love” that participates in our destruction and binds us to falsehood and fantasy.
There is no middle ground, and the very toxic delusions about love in today’s society prove just how destructive this fantasy is.
Our Gospel lesson today comes from John 14:21-24:
The Lord said to his disciples, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”
The Lord insists that the natural result of true love is obedience.
But what is it about obedience that shows we love God?
First, obedience displays trust.
Sure, you can obey out of fear of punishment, but you don’t have to love someone you fear.
Jesus ties obedience to love in such a way that we begin to understand that when I love God, I desire to hear Him and I trust He knows me best and wants what is best for me. I trust God, and that trust flows from the fact that I love Him. And this trust has the added benefit of actually growing my love for God! Obedience flows from trust, and trust encourages obedience, and that grows love!
Second, obedience displays faithfulness.
Notice the Lord used the word “keep” about His word. It isn’t just that we “do” what God says, but we hold and treasure the Word of God (by the way, the Word of God is a Person – see John 1).
We so treasure the wisdom of God and the Person of God that we expend the energy, time, and resources to preserve and propagate His Word from generation to generation. For this reason, we pass on our devotion to and for God to our children. A faithful person is an obedient person. These virtues are inseparable!
Finally, obedience displays communion.
What I mean by communion is that we are as tied to God as a branch to a tree. Eventually, the branch becomes so like the tree trunk that one can’t tell the “two” apart! I am moving in a “symphony” with God, to the point that the “family” resemblance is so strong there is no doubt as to Whom I belong. “That boy looks just like his daddy!”
This is precisely what we Orthodox mean by “deification.” Our love draws us deeper into the healing of God’s image within us! We become “like” Christ! And it all starts with an act of our will to obey!
“That which is done in secret.” This is the answer Jesus gave to St. Paisius the Great when the holy saint asked the Lord which was the greatest virtue. St. Paisius was born in Egypt around 300 AD and lived an exemplary life, which led him to be trained as a monk by the great Abba Pambo of the desert. He fell asleep in the Lord at an advanced age, and his holy relics still work miracles to this day. St. Paisius learned that exercising his will to obey God would so form and shape him in holiness that the great saint would be truly free to love God above all things, even his own temporary comfort. It was his love for God that enabled St. Paisius to obey God.
Today, is your definition of “love” large enough to spur you on to greater devotion to God, to obedience? Is your “love” in need of a makeover? Plainly, know that your level of obedience is a direct indication of your love for God! Period. With this in mind, perhaps you can now see why we must always strive for a life of repentance and growth in spiritual maturity. It’s why we love God so much, so that we can be Normal Orthodox Christians.
P.S. With godly anthems, come, ye faithful, let us all acclaim the godly-wise and truly venerable Paisius, the true citizen and ornament of the desert, the most noble peer of Angels, the true friend of Christ, and the glory of monastics and ascetic Saints. Let us cry to him: Rejoice, O Father Paisius.
Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouraged
This is a difficult task when spiritual practices don't provide the initial comfort they did, learning slowly that love of Christ is the goal, the reward, and the means
Love and Keep
Saint Jude, pray for us.....