The Lie That Almost Everyone Believes

One of the enemy’s greatest lies is convincing us that claiming to love Jesus is the same as following Him. Jesus never said that. He said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

I recently watched a short clip from an interview that really made me stop and think.

A man was talking about a preacher who ended up in prison because of illegal activity and an affair. While visiting him, the man asked him a powerful question:

“What do I need to do so I don’t end up like you? I don’t want to become you. What happened?”

The preacher responded by saying that he never fell out of love with God. He said he still loved God the entire time, but he lost the fear of God.

He explained that he didn’t mean fear as in being terrified of God. He meant losing the fear of being without Him.

That statement stayed with me.

Because I think there is a lie many of us have believed.

The lie is that we can love God while continually choosing the things that separate us from Him.

Now, I want to be careful here. I don’t know that man’s heart. Only God truly knows what is happening inside someone. But Jesus did tell us something important:

“You will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16)

Our lives reveal something about what is happening inside of us.

Jesus also said:

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

Those words are powerful.

Because love is not just something we say. Love is demonstrated by what we do.

Think about any relationship.

How do you know someone loves you?

It’s not only because they say the words. You know because their actions line up with what they say. Their choices show their love.

So why would we expect our relationship with God to be different?

We say we love God…

But do we live like we love Him?

We say we love God, but we get drunk until we black out.

We say we love God, but we continue in sexual sin.

We say we love God, but we hold onto addictions and habits He has called us to surrender.

We say we love God, but we lie, cheat, steal, gossip, refuse to forgive, and live as if our own desires matter more than His commands.

The list could go on and on.

And I want to be clear: I am not writing this from a place of looking down on anyone.

I have to ask myself these same questions.

I love God. I have a relationship with Him. But that doesn’t mean I get to use His grace as permission to continue living however I want.

We cannot have it both ways.

We cannot say Jesus is Lord while refusing to let Him lead our lives.

Jesus warned about being lukewarm. In Revelation 3:16, He says that because they are neither hot nor cold, He will spit them out of His mouth.

That is a serious warning.

I think one of the things we do best as humans is convince ourselves that we are okay.

We can convince ourselves that because we go to church, pray, know Scripture, or have emotional moments with God, everything is fine.

But Jesus never said the evidence of our love for Him would be found only in our feelings.

He said it would be found in our obedience.

Following Jesus was never meant to be easy.

Jesus said we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

That means our old desires, our pride, our selfishness, and our sin have to die.

The Bible says that if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him.

There is a cost to following Jesus.

But there is also a promise.

God is not looking for people who simply say the right words. He is looking for hearts that surrender to Him.

And this is where we have to be honest with ourselves:

Do we love Jesus enough to obey Him?

Do we trust Him enough to let go of the things He is asking us to surrender?

Do we believe the Bible enough to actually live by it?

Because saying we believe it and living like we believe it are two different things.

God does not delight in sending people away from Him. He made a way for us through Jesus because He desires relationship with us.

But God will not force us to choose Him.

We choose.

Every day.

We choose whether we will hold onto our sin or surrender it.

We choose whether we will follow our flesh or follow Jesus.

The question is not just, “Do you love God?”

The question is:

Does your life show that you love Him?