Pssst!  I hear you’re looking to get into heaven.  Jesus said He was the way but He also said something even more profound.  According to Jesus (and the Law of Moses) the greatest command consists of loving God with all your being.  Of all the commands in the Bible that is the “biggie.”  But in another area Jesus states “If you love me you’ll keep my commandments.”  First we need to clarify something, Jesus is the Son of God and He has clearly told us that if we’ve seen Him we’ve seen the Father.  So Jesus is God, the Son and as such in following the greatest command we are to love Him with every fiber of our being.  That’s easy enough to understand… Now, that we love Him let’s apply our second “rule of thumb” and because we love God (Jesus) we will keep His commandments, which first and foremost is that we are to love Him.  Augghh! We love Him and we do what He says, which is to love Him and do what he says.  It’s a never-ending cycle!

Have you ever seen a dog or cat dance in a circle trying futilely to catch their tail?  No matter how fast or how long they chase more often than not they never seem to achieve their goal.  The same is true in loving God.  The more we love Him, the more we try to love Him.  That seems to be His design.  Amazing!

Now there are other commands we have of God and His Son Jesus and these must not be neglected.  In addition to those we have another consideration in that Jesus also says that whoever keeps His words is one who loves Him.  Keeping commands and the words of Jesus will lead you on your journey to an eternal home in heaven.  Probably the greatest statement by Jesus was, “Have faith in God!”  Do you? Great!  Is it an active faith that has the power of salvation or is it an inactive faith that is powerless to save?  Only you can answer that.

Copyright © 2003, Nolan P. Rutter