"If ye love me, keep my commandments."
John 14:15
I like this because I think it shows a different, healthier, side of friendship/love than we usually see. Christ talks in the previous verses about unity and offers something, telling his friends that if they ask God in his name, he wil do it. Then he makes it clear what he asks of them. I feel like this is what God does for all of us... he loves us and sets up standards and goals so that we can reach for more rather than showing us a corrupt love that doesn't care whether we improve or not.
Interestingly, loving God is already a commandment, but Christ is talking here about what he will do and what he asks as part of a way to unify them all and to help each other... things they want to do for each other out of love, and maybe also to show that is what the entire gospel is... an effort to help and save and assist loved ones. It's also something a father might say to a child... if you love me, please listen to my advice.
Our ideas of love are often corrupt and twisted. We often want a permissive, pushover type of love that accepts all of our badness, and that if someone contradicts us or wants us to reach for more, that isn't real love. We say things like "real friends help you bury the body" or "prove you love me by doing [fill in the blank with something you are uncomfortable with]," valuing loyalty over all else, even when we're dead wrong. We read/watch love stories about Romeo and Juliet or teenage vampires and we start thinking that suicide for a lost love is noble, or that we really can't choose who we love romantically, which is a pretty convenient lie when it comes to adultery. None of this is real godly love, because love isn't manipulative or corrupting OR forced. Real, pure love is always a choice, and it inspires us to be better people, not worse.
Today, let's think about what loving God means on both sides, and what God asks us to do if we love him. We could maybe also review 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul talks about what is and is not love. Let's recognize that our best friends and the ones who love us the most are the ones who urge us to be better, and who help us get there, and that God is the best friend that we could ever have.
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