June 11

The Lord has given us a sure-fire commitment detector that we can apply to ourselves to ascertain the devotion to Him that we profess with our lips and by our attendance at church. Certainly, these things in and of themselves may indicate our belief in Him but the reality of our love for the Lord is shown in another way.

Jesus removed all the extraneous—our activity in the behalf of the church and its programs, our volunteer work—all our ‘good works’ and identified the one thing that shows we are truly His. “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 puts it into a nutshell. Nothing else qualifies us as being truly the Lord’s own.

Paul restates this truth in Romans 7:22 where he says, “I delight in the law of the Lord in the depth of my inner being.” The believer does not give a mere nod to the truth of God, he does not simply go through the motions of serving a social gospel. The Lord and His Word, His commandments, His truth are the meat and drink of the believer. They motivate the very essence his being at the inner core of who he is.

The reward of this inner devotion is stated in Psalm 1:1, 2 which says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, of the sinners, of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law does he meditate day and night.” That level of commitment clearly indicates our love and devotion to the Lord—and it is the source of our abiding and eternal blessedness.