“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21)
Expanded Passage: John 14:21
How do you know someone loves you? Two people can give you flowers or candy, and you appreciate the one, but you adore the other. Same flowers. Same candy. Different response. There is something intangible about love that sets it apart from everything else. It is not in the gift. It is in the heart of the giver.
How do we know God loves us? That again is indescribable and intangible. While we read it in his Word, and we take it by faith, there is an intangible assurance that comes to us that cannot be explained, but it is more real than anything that can be put into words. And then he proves it over and over by how he cares for us at the point of our deepest need and greatest danger.
How does God know we love him (besides the fact that he knows everything)? Jesus chose to say that our love is proven in our obedience. Apparently, it is not in our emotional attachment or our flowery words or our extravagant gifts that our love is proven. It is in whether we do what he asks us to do.
And what is that? To love him with all of our heart, soul, and strength; and to love other people just the same way—and to not stop until he stops.
Bless someone God brings across your path today.
Dan LeRoy is a retired Wesleyan pastor, church planter and district superintendent. He and his wife Cynthia live in Kernersville, North Carolina.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
