Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings… John 14:23-24a
Christ is not being manipulative here, trying to use our love for Him to control our actions. Rather, He is just stating an undeniable principle: that love (of the heart type, not the romantic type) is inherently tied to one’s priorities.
How do you know that a person loves sports? It’s because when they have a choice to talk about sports or cars, they’ll talk about sports. When they ought to be working on their to-do list but their favorite team is playing, they’ll be watching the game. While they can’t seem to remember their children’s birthdays, they do know all the latest stats. You know that they love sports because it takes priority over other important things in their life.
In the same way, when we have to choose between doing our will and God’s will, the actions that we take, our works, shows where our true love lies. If we keep His commandments out of a heart of love rather than doing what we would naturally prefer, we show that we truly love God.
