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

He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.  John 14:21 NASB

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent me.  John 14:24  NASB

I often find that I have a tendency to overcomplicate simple things. If I think too much something very simple can become very complicated. I have often heard people use the excuse for not reading their Bible as being that it is complicated or they have a hard time understanding it. Well, that’s what Bible study and church services are for.

But there is nothing complicated about our scripture passages today.  But stick with me while I bring you back to the first verse in John 14. John 14:1-2 says “Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

Jesus is trying to explain to them in this chapter of John that the way to a relationship with God the Father and to an eternity in heaven is through Him. He then goes on to say, not once but three times, that if we love Him we will keep His commandments or His word. Nothing complicated there, right?

It all sounds so simple, but why do we make it so difficult? Well, it’s our flesh that gets in the way and tends to complicate things. Our flesh wants to be satisfied and to make matters worse, the devil is right there telling us that we deserve to satisfy our flesh and he does all he can to make it seem very complicated. The devil wants us to think that it’s okay to indulge ourselves and do what we want to do. The devil will tell us that sex outside of marriage is not a problem, but the Bible tells us that we are not to commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Jesus goes on to tell us in Matthew 5:28 that if we look at someone lustfully, we have already committed adultery in our hearts.  Exodus 20:13 tells us that we should not murder. We are told in Matthew 5:22 that if we are angry with someone that we are just as guilty. The devil tells us to take revenge on our enemies, but Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27, Romans 12:14). We must remember that the devil wants us to be confused. When we are confused, it is hard to be at peace. When we are confused, we may do things that we know are wrong, but try to justify them.

But God keeps it simple. If we love Jesus, then we love God and we will follow the instructions and commandments laid out for us in His word.  “It’s complicated” has become a term used on social media to describe relationships that are well, hard to describe. This may imply that someone is involved in more than one relationship or that they are involved in a relationship with someone but not committed. It could imply any number of things as the term suggests. It should never describe our relationship with Jesus. When we allow the devil to complicate our relationship with our Lord and Savior, then we are in dangerous territory.

Take a minute today to analyze your relationship with Jesus. Is it simple? Does it bring you peace and joy? Or, has the devil complicated it causing you anxiety? If you are experiencing a great deal of stress, turn to God’s word. Obey His commands and give it all over to Him. Allow Him to simplify things for you.

God loved us so much that He sent His son to earth to save us from our sins so that we could have an opportunity to accept Him as our Lord and Savior, trust in Him, obey His commands and spend eternity in heaven (John 3:16). I beg of you today, don’t let the devil complicate things. And if it is too late for that and you have allowed the devil to make a huge mess out of things, just turn that whole big mess over to God. He will gladly clean it up for you.

If we love Him we will trust in Him and obey Him. If we don’t, we won’t. It’s just that simple.

Have a great day!