You’re probably not surprised that Jesus expects you to keep His commandments. But why do you obey Jesus? When you do what he tells you to, you are acting from obligation. This is really important, but why you obey also matters. After all, His commandment is to love – but how can he expect us to love as He loves?

Obligation is a good thing. Duty is a good thing. But like so many good things in life, they’re not enough. We want more – we need more. Jesus teaches us some really important things that go beyond obligation: “remain in my love … love one another as I love you … I have called you friends”. (John 15)

Being friends with Jesus is our greatest calling. Imagine, the Son of God, the King of Kings, chooses you to be part of his inner circle. You have total access to Him. Would you hesitate to let Him come close to you? At times we do. Sometimes we don’t trust Him quite enough, or, we don’t feel worthy, or, we aren’t quite ready to love each other as He loves us.

Strangely, we can use obligation to keep Jesus at a distance. Remember the older son in the parable of the Prodigal Son – he does everything that the Father tells him to, but he is hesitant to enter into the Father’s love which welcomes back the younger son, who had strayed from home (Luke 15).

We all need to experience how much we are loved by Jesus, to remain in His love, and to share this love with each other. What will unify us? Only the love of Jesus. Consider Jesus on the Cross, showing us the love of God, and let that love soak in, for “God is love” (1 John 4). Let His love overflow from you into mission to the lost, and for each other. Let us call upon the Holy Spirit to fill us with His love. (Acts 10)