LOVE GOD, LOVE JESUS, LOVE THE COMMANDMENTS
Religious people may often be heard saying that they love God. Friends and acquaintances of those people may often say of them, “He/she loves God”. When we know those people well, and observe their hypocrisy, we may wonder about their claims of loving God and/or Jesus because aspects of their lives do not line up the standards God sets up for their conduct. Nevertheless, it is hard to argue with what people say or feel about their affections for God. It is like, if they say it, it must be true.

Claims for loving God are empty, however, for people do not listen to and obey God’s commandments/laws. Love of God is inextricably tied to listening to his voice and obedience to the commandments/laws he speaks to the hearts of those who love him.

These commandments to which love is tied are much more than the so-called Ten Commandments and they do not at all include any religious laws or traditions. The Ten Commandments are only simplified summaries of all the commandments, statutes and ordinances of all of God’s  commandments/laws written on the hearts of New Covenant disciples. And religious laws and traditions are man’s creations. They do not come from God.