June 5 - 1 John 2:3-6. Obey

June 5 - 1 John 2:3-6. Obey

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

There were a couple of words I was not very fond of while growing up.  Discipline was one – whether it meant that I had to be self-disciplined or it meant that Dad was going to discipline me.  Obey was the other.  I never had a problem doing things that were asked of me, but when someone demanded that I obey them, every hair on the back of my neck went straight up and though I may have done what was demanded of me (because I was a good girl), I muttered and snarled and made myself and everyone else around me miserable.

I guess I was able to discern, at a very young age, what a person’s intent with me was.  Asking me to do a task gave me responsibility and allowed me to respond, telling me to obey and complete a task stripped every notion of responsibility away from me and simply made me an automaton responding to another’s whims.

Now, on the other side of that, I consider my animals.  I expect obedience from them.  Sometimes it is so that I can ensure their safety.  One of my dachshunds, Bert, was quite obedient.  If I told him to STOP, he would drop where he was and wait until I got to him.  There were a couple of times that command was necessary to keep him out of traffic or some other dangerous (to him) situation.  Right now, I’d desperately love for TB (my cat) to obey when I tell him ‘No biting.’  It’s getting better, but I can never guarantee that he’ll do it at my command.

The Greek word used here doesn’t mean that we lose our responsibility and our options of response.  The word tereo means ‘to retain in custody, keep watch over, guard.’  Another translation of it might be ‘to cause something to continue’ and yet another is ‘to persist in obedience, keep, observe, fulfill, pay attention to.’  The NIV translates this word as both ‘keep’ and then later in the passage as ‘obey.’  

The one thing that stands out through all of that is that this is a continuous action.  We never cease living as Jesus did … or at least attempting to live as He did.  When we keep the Lord’s commands, when we obey what he has set down in his word, we find that we truly love the Lord.  We don’t respond because we have no other option, we respond because to do so ensures that we fall deeper and deeper and love with God.