If…Then…

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

Isaiah 58:9b-11 [emphasis added]

Do you remember learning about “if…then…” statements in school? It is a statement of condition and consequence. The ‘then’ will happen- but only after the ‘if’ is done.

When Jesus commands that we “love one another as I have loved you” [John 15:12], what does that mean? He paid the ultimate price for us. He gave up Himself…for us. HE loved us by putting us before Himself. In turn, we should love others in that way…putting others before ourselves.

IF it is God that we want…THEN we will obey His commandments. [John 14:15]

IF we keep His commandments… THEN we will abide in His love. [John 15:10]

IF we are abiding in His love… THEN we are loving others as He loved us. [John 15:12]

IF we are loving in that way… THEN we shall be like a watered garden. [Isaiah 58:6-12]

-In Him