There are no tick lists with Jesus. No list of things to do or dont do that will secure a long and lasting relationship with the Master. It’s a little like marriage. Knowing Christ is about relationship, it’s about Him revealing Himself to us, about Him calling us and about us responding to Him through devotion and paying the cost. Tick lists are out the window!
Imagine a marriage with no love, the love between them has gone. The husband approaches the wife and says ‘why don’t you love me anymore?’ The wife responds, ‘We sleep in the same bed, I do the washing every week for you, I even told my friends the other day that I love you,’ the tick list becomes pointless. They know if they love each other because of the deep devotion they feel for each other, the tick list, in some ways proves nothing. However, if they do love one another there will be fruit of this love, which may show itself in kind actions, serving one another or gifts.
This is the same as our relationship with our great Rabbi Jesus. Coming to Him with a list of do’s and do not’s that you have either managed or not managed to keep this week counts for very little. The fruit of your love for Him expressed through different ways is different.
Read the following passages,
John 8 v 31-32
John 14 v 15
John 13 v 35
John 15 v 8
What are these passages saying?
What does this mean?
How do we apply this in our everyday life?