The Only True Measure Of Love - John 14:23

Jesus answered and said to 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. - John 14:23

    Love, or should I say the misconstruction of the concept, permeates the said spirituality of an incredibly large number of people today. We’ve all heard the Beatles’ mantra for a decent and noble human life, “All You Need Is Love.” And perhaps this is where the divergence between the true definition of love and this “hippie-peacenik” notion comes from. The fact is; they aren’t completely wrong but like an unfinished puzzle, far too many of these proponents of love are missing the bigger picture. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” - 1 John 4:7.  That means that if we say we have love then it follows that we must also have God!
    The Apostle John further proclaimed, “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”- 1 John 4:21. The picture that emerges from the darkness is one of the God of the Bible as both the recipient of our love and channel of our love for others.
    The pseudo-spiritual person will extol him or herself as unconditional lovers of mankind. They will profess their kind of love as the cure for the human condition (fallenness) and continue to declare that all you need is love. Yet in reality, their philanthropic care for all of mankind comes to a screeching halt when confronted by the true measure of love as described in our title verse. These humanitarians will reject John 14:23 on the grounds that obedience to “a god” is not essential to their humanist goal. They are like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time - “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” - Matthew 23:27-28. They declare their righteousness and “love for others” by their behavior toward their fellow man. And, as I have often used this analogy in the past (and will again in the future) - because a serial murderer holds the door open for someone does not make him a good person. Simple “good deeds” do not make a person good.
    Still, we know all about righteousness. “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” - Romans 3:10-18.
    Jesus puts the measure of love on our doorstep -“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” - John 14:15. Do we love Christ? Do we keep His word?  Not perfectly, of course; we are, after all, fallen humans. But if our love of God is not evident through our obedience to Him then we must by virtue of such a position love the world rather than God. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” - 1 John 2:15-17. This sentiment was expressed in the words of Bible-teacher and contemporary of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Arthur W. Pink, when he said, “Our respect for God is judged by our conformity to His law.”
    Pray we must that we always meet the true measure of love: that we love and obey God. Then and only then can we truly love our fellow man. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.” - 1 John 5:2. And regardless of superficial platitudes, this is the only true measure of love.