How to Keep Going

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10

Of all the people we read about in Old Testament narrative, there is one who comes along early (Genesis 4-5) who is credited with something no one else achieves. One man lived such a life that at the end of 365 years, it doesn’t say, “and he died,” but rather it says, “and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:24

Maybe we can learn something from this Old Testament man who walked with God as we look at the New Testament Man Who is God. Again and again, Jesus surprises us as we read the Gospels. His response to people is so different and so refreshing that it’s not hard to see why people were drawn to Him and wanted to follow after Him.

Jesus was deadly serious about one thing: obedience to the will of God the Father. Whenever He became aware of the Father’s will, the narrative shows Him quickly carrying it out. That same quality is demanded of each of Christ’s followers. We must recognize that in order to accomplish God’s purpose; we must function according to God’s will which often is opposed by our own will. That’s the point of surrender. Obedience doesn’t come from an unsurrendered heart.