I know something of love. Something, anyway. Like it says in the 'About Me' section on this blog, I'm a follower of the Most High God, and He is love. I am not love, though I have love in me. Does any of this make any sense? Take a close look at John 14:21-24;

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." 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

Jesus identified those people who have, and keep his commandments as the people who love Him. The word for 'keeps' in the Greek text is "tereo", pronounced tay-reh'-o. Defined, the word tereo means to guard or to 'keep' watch over, to hold fast to.

When most people read the word 'keeps' in John 14:21 they have a first tendency to see it as keeping 100% of God's holy commandments, and typically they're thinking about only ten commandments, when in reality there are actually six-hundred and thirteen.

I haven't even kept the entire ten, let alone the rest. Do you know anybody who has kept all of the Ten Commandments? Not even the nicest, most gentle and caring Christians I've ever known have been able to do that. What does that mean? Does it mean that since nobody can actually completely guard or keep God's commandments, that nobody really loves Him?

Let's share another passage of scripture. It's referred to by millions as, "The Love Chapter", 1st Corinthians Chapter 13. I won't post the entire text here due to it's length, but if you look at verses 4 through 8 below, we'll try something. Go ahead and read the verses.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. 1st Corinthians 13, 4-8

Okay, go ahead and read it again, but this time, wherever you see the word 'love', substitute your own first name. Yeah. I've done this too. Really puts an entirely different perspective on things doesn't it? In regard to verses 4 through 7, I can say of myself that I have done all those things at one time or another as the verses read. I can also say that I have not done all those things, many times. In regard to verse 8, inserting my name in place of 'love' is a complete joke.

Does this mean that we don't love, and that we don't know how to love God? Think about it. Jesus said it was those who keep His commandments that love Him. We don't always keep the commandments. Paul told us what love is, and we sure don't love like that. We sure can't say we never fail. Not if we're being honest with ourselves anyway.

This is just another crucial area of our lives that shows us how much we need Jesus, and how much we need Him every moment of every day. The Bible tells us in 1st John, 4:19 that, "We love Him, because He first loved us."

Now what does that mean? The Bible makes it clear in the first part of 1st Corinthians 13 that you can do the things of love, but not love sincerely. As a matter of fact, it makes it clear that if we do the things of love without love, we are just an annoying sound. As believers, we turn our backs on our old ways and we sincerely do the things of love because He provided us with so much when He suffered and died on the Cross for each of us.

God provided us with a way to have eternal life with Him through His Son, Jesus. How much more of an example of true love is needed? He took our sins upon Himself as though He had committed them. He put Himself in a position to receive our punishment. His entire time on Earth revealed His true love for us by giving His love to us. He loved us before He came here. He bore all things while He was here and His love never fails.

We can study every spare moment we have and we can practice doing loving things whenever we can, but until we have Him in our heart we cannot begin to love in a way that is similar to the way He does. I say similar, because we can only compare ourselves to the love of 1st Corinthians, chapter 13, and hope to emulate it. It is His chapter, and He is the only One Who can fit the description of love there, because as I said before, He is love.

Jesus stated quite plainly who it is that loves Him, and it seems clear to me that we can't love Him yet, in a way that matches that standard. The more we know Him I believe, the more we come to love Him and love others the way He does. I thank Him for His grace, and I hope that each day, I can and will love Him more and more like He does me.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."Romans, 5:8