September 21, 2026

The words in this scripture are coming from Jesus. He is making the point that loving Him and obeying Him go together—you cannot truly have one without the other. The promise attached to this is beautiful: He says He will reveal Himself to those who love Him.

Jesus ties love and obedience together like two sides of the same coin. He does not say, “Keep My commandments so that I will love you.” He says that if you love Him, you will keep His commandments. Obedience is not how we earn His love; it is evidence of our love for Him. It is like a child who obeys their father—not to buy his affection, but because they trust him and want to please him. It is the same with us. Keeping Jesus’ commands is our response to His love, not payment for it.

Then Jesus makes a promise that we tend to skim right past. He says that He will love those who keep His commandments and reveal Himself to them. He will not merely bless them from a distance—He will reveal Himself to them. That is an invitation to intimacy. The more we obey Him, the more we come to know Him. Obedience is not a checklist to survive; it is a door that leads us into a deeper relationship with Him.

That is why this series matters. Over the coming days, we will walk through what Jesus actually commanded—not to earn our salvation, but to draw closer to the One who has already saved us.

I can recall the first time I studied this scripture. I wanted so badly to receive this promise from Jesus. I love Him, so I wanted to make sure that I knew all of His commandments and obeyed them. How could I say that I loved Him but not know or obey His commandments? If I did not know what His commandments were, then I certainly could not say that I obeyed them.

I began researching the commandments of Jesus and found that there are 49. Including John 14:21, I printed out all 50 scriptures, laminated them, and stapled them to my bathroom wall. I wanted to see them every day and learn them. Each time I used the bathroom, I read them and began memorizing them. This helped me keep them fresh in my mind throughout the day. It became easier to obey them because I was constantly reminded of how I was supposed to behave.

I saw some of them more often because they were directly within my line of sight, while I had to scan the room to familiarize myself with the others. It was great—until they had a fatal accident! While they were blessing me, they were also convicting others. So, if you decide to follow my example, make sure you are not sharing a bathroom—or at least have a conversation with the other people who use it first.

We will go through all 49 of Jesus’ commandments, one day at a time. Today, I want us to focus solely on this verse. Ask yourself these same questions: Do I love Jesus Christ? Do I know all of His commandments? Do I obey all of His commandments? Do I want Jesus and the Father to reveal Themselves to me?