Day 20

“You must love the Lord your God and always obey his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands. Deuteronomy 11.1

When we think about love, we usually associate it with an emotion. It’s the butterflies. It’s the fast heartbeat. It’s sweaty palms weak knees, and you can feel your arms get heavy when that special someone is around. I think we all learn over time that true love is as much an action as an emotion. Love in its purest form is a love that’s demonstrated and communicated.

It’s one thing to say you love someone, but it's another dimension when you demonstrate your love. The Lord communicated this idea to the nation of Israel through Moses because He knew they’d say, “I love you,” with their lips but disregard His commands as soon as the phrase left their lips.

The fact that God used conjunctions to tie the concepts together means you can’t have one without the other. Parents feel loved when their kids obey the first time, not just the first time but all right away. Nothing screams disobedience like the room being “cleaned,” only to find everything shoved under the bed. A husband or wife feels loved when we keep our word by doing the chores we’ve agreed to. I think when we keep God’s commands, He feels loved because the reality is our obedience demonstrates our love. I want to be clear, though: our obedience doesn’t earn God’s love but puts our love for God on display for the world.

Reflection:

What’s the best expression of love, outside of Jesus’ death on the cross, have you experienced or witnessed? Do you equate love and obedience?