To Know Him is to Obey Him

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.”  I John 2:3

 Are the commands of Jesus optional?  Many Christians live as if they can approach the Bible as a menu.  They pick and choose which commands they want to obey, and those which they want to skip.  They choose promises they want to stand on, but ignore rebukes and warnings.  Is such a person a Christian at all?

According to this passage, the proof that we know Christ is IF we obey his commands.  If we read the Word, if we put it into practice, then we can be sure we know Him.

This truth seems so simplistic and elementary that you may be wondering why I would belabor the point at all.  I guess the bottom-line for me is the number of people who would check “Christian” as a religious preference, but yet do nothing that would affiliate them with Christ in word or deed.  There is no proof they are following His path.

Jesus paid the price for our sin.  We cannot add anything to His sacrifice.  The bill for our redemption is paid in full.  But that does not mean that following Christ will not cost us anything.  The commands of Jesus are often foreign to our fleshly nature and therefore are difficult to carry out.  But carry them out, we must, if we know Christ.

There are many public figures that I feel I know because I have read so much about them, or watched enough of their shows. But if someone were to tell them that I was there to see them, their response would be “Sherri who?”

I want to live in such a way that I can be sure I know Christ and He can be sure that He knows me.  We have to live a life of convincing proof, because as the Bible declares, we are an epistle of God, read of all men.  (II Cor. 3:2)

Dear Lord, help me to live out your commands.  Please help me to be steadfast in following you; letting your Word be my guide rather than my own feelings.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri