Love or Labor

I have noticed that many folks seem confused or undecided about whether they are walking in a labor of love or walking in a love of labor.  The dicotomy of views concerning John 14:23 seem to crystalize this confusion.  In that verse Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. "

 A.     One very large group would have us interpret this verse to understand that the keeping of Jesus' word or obedience is the proof that we love Him.  That interpretation applied to the whole of the verse leads to the further conclusion that the keeping of Jesus' word or obedience is, also a precondition to Father's love and a precondition to the Father and Jesus coming to abide with us.  That reading of the whole verse, however, is inconsistant with all the rest of the Scriptures which reveal the unconditional nature of Father's love.  He so loved us before we ever knew about Jesus that He sent Jesus for us.

 B.     A much smaller group would have us interpret this verse to understand that it is our love for Jesus personally that is the source of our power to engage in the keeping of Jesus' word or obedience.  Without that intimate bond of love with Jesus, we simply are not able to choose to die to self in the ways necessary to walk out what Jesus desires.  Further, this close knit love relationship also leads to a fuller experience of Father's love and an experience of the abiding presence of both Jesus and the Father living in and with us.

So, you may ask, what difference would these divergent views make one way or the other ?

It is a matter of the efficacy of our focus and a matter of our ability to receive grace.

If I accept interpretation A. above, then I must continually be learning more about Jesus' commandments and work harder and harder to keep everyone to the last detail.  If I do not, then I will prove that my love for Him is inadequate and Father will not love me or live with me.  It will also become necessary for me to cut the book of Galatians out of my Bible.  Why Galatians ?  Because it revolves around the theme that any attempt on my part to please God by keeping a set of rules will remove me from access to His grace.

If, conversely, I accept interpretation B. above, then at any time I see myself not doing everything that Jesus wants me to do I may turn to deepening my love relationship with Him.  If I do that then: He will further empower me to keep His commandments; I will experience more of Father's love; and, I will experience more of Father's and Jesus' abiding presence in my life.  Because the one who has been forgiven much will love much, one key way to deepen the love is to remember how very much I have been forgiven.

Interpretation A. is self centered and leads to legalism.

Interpretation B. is God centered and leads to an amazing life wherein Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and I continually abide in unity, blessing and serving each other in a healthful familial relationship. 

We see this same dynamic in our human relationships also.  We easily serve the people we love.  The more we love them the more we enjoy serving them.  But, it does not work the otherway around.  We do not easily love the people who are demanding that we serve them.  Indeed, most people come to resent such people.

Thus, we can see why people raised in a legalistic demanding environment often develop a deep resentment toward God.

By His grace, Father loves them anyway.