He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
John 14:21 KJV
There is a level of HAVING. It is the season of reading, acquiring and storing up. You go into the Bible and read about God's mighty works of power and grace, and you get to know more about this God who calls men to Himself. The more you study, the more of Him to know. The more you study, the more of His Word you know, and the more you know about the things He loves and hates. There are quite a lot of people at this stage. We aspire to know, and we search out the Word of God, and we are proud of this position. However, this is not the final resting place.
There is yet another level, that of KEEPING. This is the level God would have us move into. What do I do with the knowledge of God that I have acquired? Is it all about boasting about the knowledge, showing off the retentive memory I have, or is my life a mirror of the knowledge I have acquired? I note that there is an AND joining the HAVING and the KEEPING, which means that if I will please God, I can't do one and leave the other. The Christian life wasn't built to be lived like that.
And Jesus says that both HAVING and KEEPING are the proofs of a life that loves Him. It isn't about what I claim, but about how I live. If God says my life has a lack, there is no amount of window dressing that will make it alright, if I do not address that lack. The benefit of having both is that I get the love of the Father, as well as the Son. When you have a personal experience the love of God, you know that there is nothing else that can take His place in your heart.
And that is the secret of the manifestation and revelation of Jesus. The way to the Father is through the Son, and if I crave the love of God, I cannot ignore the Son. He is called the Way, the Truth and the Life, and NO ONE can make the approach to the Father outside the Son. No wonder he is the centrepiece of God's creation, and the Word of God Himself. He makes the invitation to all people, asking us to come to Him. If I come, I get to really know who God is. Through Jesus, God is revealed, as Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
And this is the amazing thing: for all who come, there is a very personal manifestation of Jesus to that person. You cannot pattern your life after someone else's revelation; you have to seek your own. He wants to meet every life on a personal level, as it is your knowledge and experience of God that will sustain you on your journey. You can't keep looking over your shoulders at another person's race, wishing you had their own life. You have your own race to run, and at the end of it, your own personal reward.
So, how are you keeping? Now that I know what the Father needs, I get the blessings promised when I do what has been commanded. He has laid down the process, and all I can do is obey. Nothing else, including academic degrees and grammatical constructs, will work. His time of favour is here.
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