Bible Reading: John 14:15-17
Why do you go to church or read the Bible or pray? Do you do those things because you must do them or because you want to do them?
God does have certain things that he commands us to do. For example, we must honor our parents and we must love one another. God doesn’t expect us to obey His commands by ourselves. After Jesus went back to heaven, He gave us His Holy Spirit. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, He gives us the Holy Spirit. In verse 17 of today’s reading, Jesus said, “He [the Holy Spirit] lives with you, and he will be in you.” The Holy Spirit helps us obey God.
Without Jesus in our lives, we don’t want to obey any of God’s commands, but, once we have accepted Jesus as Savior we want to obey God. We want to obey Him because we
love Him. Obeying God should feel like an act of love. It should not feel like hard work.
Obeying God because we love Him is very different than obeying God to avoid punishment.
Do you want to obey God? I hope so. I encourage you to download the Inductive Study Guide (click the logo) and use it to study John 14:15-17. I also encourage you to memorize these three verses. If that seems like too big a task, start by memorizing just John 14:15 which says, “If you love me, you will do what I command.” John 14:15
Heavenly Father, we want to serve You because we love You. Tell us what it is that You want us to do. Help us to obey. In Jesus’ name. Amen.