I often ponder on the subject of faith while I'm working, normally only while we're in the truck so that I'm doing it without driving. This week it crossed my mind that faith and obedience are linked to love.
Consider for a moment John 14:15 "If ye love me keep my commandments". Jesus laid it down rather black and white that we demonstrate our love for Him by keeping his commandments. Now think about this description of faith found in the Bible Dictionary: faith comes by righteousness. Keep in mind that we demonstrate, at the very least, a particle of faith when we obey the Lord. So in keeping the commandments we show and exercise both faith in and love for the Lord.
The particle of faith leads us to plant the tiny mustard seed. Faith and obedience lead us to nurture that seed until it grows to maturity. This develops our faith in the Teacher further because we have evidence of the truth of what He taught. We develop love for the teacher as we reap the harvest of our faith.
These three principles I hadn't ever considered before, but now they seem to be intertwined in an intricate pattern. Obedience without love is mechanical. It makes a person seem more like a robot than a warrior. Faith does not happen without some love for without love faith seems like the robot walking into the dark without any purpose.
I submit that while the three principles can exist and faith and obedience can be done without love they are devoid of purpose as such. Love gives EVERYTHING rhyme and reason. It's the tempo, the beat of our marching band. Without love we are but empty temples, beautiful, but nonetheless without the motivation to perform the work. Love leads a child to better obey his or her parents. Love for a school leads an athlete to stand strong in the sporting arena. Love for the Lord leads a young man or woman to leave home and serve an unknown people. Love is a gift from Christ and being from Him it is our motivation to follow the Good Shepherd. When we emanate that love clearly, it leads others to follow us while we follow Him.
Love and faith are a seed and sprout therefrom into a great tree. Obedience with love is powerful and under the direction of the Master Horticulturist will lead a tree to grow to it's fullest potential.
Thanks for your posts! Keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteI like your observation that "Obedience without love is mechanical. It makes a person seem more like a robot than a warrior." You make a good point about love and its importance.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's a great challenge to do what we should for others when we don't particularly feel love.
When we serve others, our motivation ought to be love. For example, when we serve as missionaries, we ought to be motivated by a desire to bring the restored Gospel to others so that they can have greater happiness. For me, when I went on a mission, my initial motivation was more just a sense of duty. That's not as good, but it's acceptable. Sometimes obeying for the sake of doing our duty is enough to get us going, and then through our service we gain love for others.
But if we never gain that love, then we lose. As Mormon said, "if ye have not charity, ye are nothing". (Moroni 7:46)
Thanks for your thoughts.