I need to admit that when I memorized that verse, what I thought it meant was something a bit passive aggressive like this: "If you really loved me, you would obey me." It was that sort of subversive, jab that made me feel like I could never do enough--especially since we were taught growing up that we could never keep His commandments perfectly.
But that's not what the verse says, does it.
As I was soaking this morning, this verse came to mind again and I heard it a different way. What I hear now in this verse is something like this: "I don't want your obedience, if you don't love me. If you love me, keep my commandments, otherwise don't bother." (I obviously exaggerated the meaning a bit to make my point.)
What the Pharisees got so incredibly wrong about God and about the Torah (the law of Moses), was that they thought that obedience not motivated by love was valuable to God. It isn't. It never was. God was never interested in mere obedience for the sake of obedience. He never was a control freak. What He always wanted was our hearts. Did you know the phrase "all your heart" occurs nine times in Deuteronomy? God is more interested in our hearts than certain actions. He wants us to follow His ways as an expression of our love for Him - He has always wanted that. Just doing what He says, without love, means nothing to Him.
David picked up on this greater truth when he writes: You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:16–17). What David knew was that the sacrificial acts, prescribed by the law, meant nothing to God in themselves. He understood that God was always after our hearts.
When Jesus tells us "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (in the context of a larger discourse), He is not saying He's more interested in our obedience than our hearts. He's saying He's only interested in our obedience, if our hearts are turned toward Him in love.
Actually, the word "obey" isn't even in that verse. It's the word "keep" (τηρέω). In context it can have the practical translation of "obey" (as some translations have), but that's not the heart of this word, and in my opinion not the best translation. To keep a command is not merely to obey it, it's also to keep watch over it, to guard it, to preserve, in short: to treasure. While we would not treasure a command by ignoring it, neither should we obey a command without holding it dear. We hold it dear, we keep it, we guard it, we preserve it, because we love Him. Because we keep them carefully, we show that we love Him (see John 14:21).
Another thing to point out is that the word for to keep is in the future tense: you will keep. It's almost like a natural or necessary outcome. It's sort of like this: "Do you want to keep my commandments? Just start loving me and the rest will take care of itself." Not that we can claim to love Him and then not pay attention to what He says! No! If we love Him, we'll hang on His every word--everything He's ever said or done. And because we love Him, we'll want to do all He says.
And you know what? When, out of our love for Him, we do what He says, we can know that we have His love and the Father's love too; not only that, we'll have a revelation of Jesus himself who says to the one who loves Him, that He will show myself to him (John 14:21). How cool is that!
Stir up you love for Jesus today and watch what happens!
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