I will love him and manifest myself to him.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.


When we speak of love we sometimes embrace a definition of it that is more schmaltzy and touchy-feely than the one that Jesus speaks of here. In this passage he tells us that we cannot separate our love for God from what we do and how we live. Our lives are a mirror to the world of who or what we love the most. If we love God we will reflect his image.

Yet it is not we but the Holy Spirit who shines from deep within us. When Jesus says that he and the Father will "make our home with him" he speaks of how the Holy Spirit lives in our innermost being when we are spiritually born. In a sense keeping God's commandments is all about following the influence and leading of the Holy Spirit within us. 

I am listening Lord. Help me to hear your voice and keep your commandments today.

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