Written by: Damien Powell
There is only ONE way to love Yeshua (Jesus) and He tells you directly in John 14:21-24 how you do that, but too often this passage gets overlooked because it goes against the beliefs of many Christians today. Through my journey in walking with the Lord I often hear believers quote "Yeshua said that the two greatest commandments are to love Elohim (God) with all your heart and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself." And guess what? They are absolutely right, but they are missing an important piece to what our Lord and Savior was saying there.
Firstly, when Yeshua said love Elohim with all your heart and soul, He wasn't saying merely profess those words with your mouth and don't back it up with your actions. He expects you to show Him your love and when you look at the first four of the Ten Commandments you will see how to love YHWH Elohim our Father and Yeshua with all your heart and soul. The other six show you how to love your neighbor as yourself. All Yeshua did was sum up the Ten Commandments when He was asked what the two greatest commandments were. The example I like to use is if you are married and you say to your spouse "I love you with all my heart and soul!' Then five minutes later go to your neighbors house and cheat on them, did you profess your love through your actions? Or did you merely profess it with your mouth? The same thing applies to our Elohim, we are cheating Him when we don't obey His word through His commandments, laws, and decrees.
So now that you have viewed the Ten Commandments differently and know that we must respond with action and not words, let's examine what Yeshua adds about how to love Him in John 14:21-24. Yeshua says "Whoever has my commandments and obeys them he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who DOES NOT love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to my Father who sent me."
Our Master has told us plainly that if we LOVE Him we will obey His commandments and those who DON'T love Him won't keep His commandments. The beautiful part in Yeshua's direct quote that gets overlooked is when He says He will reveal Himself to you and that He and the Father will make Their home with you! What true believer would not want this awesome experience that He promises us? Let us take a stand today and do what our Master tells us. 1 John 5:2-5 confirms this by stating "This is love for God: to obey His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God (YHWH).