“He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? (John 21:17a)
I could be mistaken here, I have a very poor memory, but I do not recall one instance in the Scriptures where anyone looked at our Savior and told Him that they loved Him, except for this instance, and then Peter did so only after he was asked.
There are several incidents where John said something similar to, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” (John 21:20) and there are numerous places where the word love for us who have been born again are mentioned by our Lord, but no where beside that opening verse in this short letter to you can I recall anyone saying to Him, “I love you.”
Two verses then for you to contemplate in regard to your professed love for the Living God.
“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1st Sam. 15:22)
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
I want to know the answer to this question, and I do not believe I am going to find the answer to it in this life. Which is more important to the Almighty, the heartfelt, true emotion of love for the Lord, or obedience to His will for our lives?
I think the following words are true, if you love Him, you will obey Him, and the only acceptable reason for obeying Him is because we love Him.
It is difficult to say if the Lord will accept any act of obedience towards Him if it is done outside of our love for Him, and I personally wonder if any of those actions will be seen as profitable if they are done solely because we have been commanded to do them.
“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10)
Is the emotion of love enough without any action that reveals that love? Is obedience to His will and Word profitable without the heart of love being present in any action we do for His glory. Can one exist without the other?
A soldier obeys the orders given to him because he trusts that his commanding officer has, along with the intended goal, that soldiers best interest at heart. Is complete trust love?
Thousands of actions of trust recorded for us in the Scriptures, and just as many if not more actions performed because of love, but no place that I can recall where anyone came up to the Lamb of God and said, “I love you.”
“If you do not obey me, that proves that you do not love me.” Are those words truth?
If I never performed any actions of love for my beautiful wife, but told her I loved her deeply a hundred times a day, would that be enough?
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt. 22:37)
I confess, I have never fully understood that verse, because no one can be forced to love anyone, and I mean no disrespect in any way to Him that I love above all others, but that verse seems to have an ominous warning in it to those who refuse to love Him.
If we love Him, we will obey Him, willingly offering everything we are to Him, and the only actions we perform for Him that are acceptable in His sight are those done out of a love for Him. Perhaps that is the answer, but in my mind, and again I could be wrong here, that question our Savior asked Peter makes it sound as if he had never said before that day to the Lord, “I love you.”
Unless those three words are revealed by our actions for His glory, then they are nothing more than just words.