Scripture
Our verse for today comes from John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Background
It’s safe to say that you are familiar with something called a Venn diagram. If the name does not ring a bell, you will certainly recognize an image of intersecting circles, perhaps labeled A and B , where the overlapping portion of the two circles represents items or areas that are common both to group A and group B . The sections of the diagram may be colored or labeled or sized in various ways, but the diagram still conveys the same basic information. Oddly enough, this amazingly simple mechanism to express relations between two distinct sets was not officially conceived or invented until the late 1800’s by a logician and philosopher named John Venn (whose grandfather happened to be the pastor of William Wilberforce). Somehow, of all the circles ever scribbled by adults and kids alike, no one had thought to arrange them in quite this specific way. Jesus, as the creator of everything, certainly knew something about Venn and his diagrams long before they would come along. And He clearly spoke to His disciples in such terms that could be translated onto a Venn diagram, like His words of today.
Application
In one circle would be those who have His commandments, and the other circle would be those who keep His commandments. Without argument there are people who have God’s commandments available to them, and there are others who do not know them, but keep His law out of the conscience given to them, in spite of their ignorance of the Father. But there is also that unique intersection where those who have His commandments keep them, and those who keep them have them. It is there in that sweet spot that Jesus says resides the one who loves Him. In fact, it is a dangerous lot to have His commandments and not keep them. For he who loves Jesus will in return receive the love of God and His Son that comes only through faithful obedience. So even if you’ve forgotten all the mathematical set theory you ever learned, love the creator of it all and keep His Word.
Charge
As we seek Him today, make sure you are in the group who loves Jesus by doing what He has commanded.
Author – Rich Holt | BCWorldview.org
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