Keeping God's Commandments - Part 59

John 15:10  "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in M love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."

We desperately need  to get away from the idea that commandment keeping and reflecting the image of Jesus are the same thing.  They may be similar at some level, but our understanding of them is different, and our practical application  of them should also be different.  One of the reasons we lump commandment-keeping and reflecting Christ's image together is that our concept keeping the Ten Commandments is so inadequate.

In John 15:10 Jesus was talking about love.  Notice the words recorded in John 15:12, where we find Him saying, "Love one another, as I have loved you."  He was in effect saying, "I have reflected the character of My Father.  I have revealed Him, and I have completed the task that He gave Me.  God asked Me to reflect His image in perfectly representing His character to the universe. Now you do the same thing, reflecting My image even as I reflected His image.  Do this if you love Me."

Were His thoughts limited to Sabbath-keeping?  Was He admonishing against theft or prevarication?
Was He rebuking adultery?  Thy were included, but keeping His commandments encompassed so much more than the "dos" and the "don'ts" that we so often think of.  Not breaking the Sabbath, not stealing or telling lies, not committing adultery, all of these are to be as far away from our lives as they were from Christ's life on Earth--they shouldn't  enter into our minds in even the slightest way and we're not talking about the new life that is experienced when Jesus is allowed to dwell within.

Does victory come through resolve and struggle?  Is it the kind of thing where you decide to be truthful, grit your teeth, and resist the temptation?  I can almost hear someone quoting "Mount of Blessings, page 141, where it says, "The Christian life is a battle and a march." and there are a lot of people who are fighting the Devil every inch of the way, and they look battle scared,  But what does it really say?

We will continue this thought tomorrow, you will be surprised at what it really says.  I love this subject, it is such a relief to know that the battle is not mind but God's. Everyone needs to know this truth.  I would solve all our problems if we believed it and applied it to our lives on a daily basis.
Ask God to help you understand this great truth and you will be totally blessed.  Grandma Joan