John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
From this verse, Jesus is saying that if we KEEP his commandments, we will abide in His love.
The keyword is the word “KEEP”
From the strong’s concordance, the word “keep” means the following;
Keep- the greek word is tēreō
1) to attend to carefully, take care of
a) to guard
b) metaph. to keep, one in the state in which he is
c) to observe
d) to reserve: to undergo something
So, to KEEP His commandments means
a) to attend carefully to His commandments
b) to guard His commandments
c) to maintain our attention to His commandments
d) to observe, literally TO SEE His commandments
e) to reserve, meaning to RESERVE A PLACE for His commandments
We need to understand that to KEEP is different than TO DO. The same word greek word for KEEP is used in this next verse and shows clearly a difference between keeping and doing.
Matthew 23:3
All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe (tēreō - keep), that observe (tēreō - keep) and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
In this verse Jesus is saying that there is a difference between observing / keeping and doing.
And so, how do we keep His commands?
The book of Proverbs explain that we need to LET our heart KEEP His commands.
Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
This is further explained in Proverbs 4:20
Proverbs 4:20
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
The words and commands of God are to be kept IN THE MIDST of our heart. As we received the word of God, we need to make sure that it stays in our heart and our heart remains focused on it. As the verse is saying, Let them not depart from your eyes. This is referring to the eyes of our heart.
And as we continue to keep His commands in our heart, it will become life to us and brings health to our physical body. This is awesome!
“For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.”
Keeping the commands of God does not imply DOING, but KEEPING them in our hearts. The DOING part will come out automatically when we KEEP.
We are not to focus on DOING, but KEEPING. Because once we begin to KEEP His commands, WE WILL DO HIS COMMANDS – it will become a fruit that that ripens in due time.
So in summary, let us look at what Jesus is saying again to fully comprehend His meaning.
John 15:10 If ye keep (attend, guard, observe, reserve) my commandments (in your heart), ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
With further clarity, we can see Jesus is saying likewise;
If you
- attend to my commandments in your heart
- guard my commandments in your heart
- observe (seeing) my commandments in your heart
- reserve my commandments in your heart,
ye shall abide in my love.
And so, this is how we abide in the love ofJesus.
