Faith Through the Eyes of Love

John 15:21

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

The dilemma for me in this statement is that it appears that Jesus is using circular reasoning to make His point. If I love Him, I will obey His commandments and if I obey His commandments, He will manifest Himself to me. But of course, how can I love Him unless He has already manifested Himself to me? Manifest is defined in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance as “exhibit (in person) or disclose (by words).” There are many people in the world who acknowledge Jesus as a historical figure, but they do not love Him and they do not obey His commandments. So then, how will they ever know Jesus if He will not manifest Himself to them?

Judas (not the one who betrayed Jesus), apparently, was struck by this glitch in his line of thinking as well when he asked,

“Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”

Rather than expound into some deeper revelation, Jesus simply reiterated what He had already stated, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.”

Hmmm…still not making the logical connection for me. A little digging through the previous portion of this passage turned up a concise but profound statement that finally made the proverbial light bulb flicker on in my mind. In verse 19, Jesus states, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.”

The disciples had seen Jesus with their own eyes, lived with Him day in and day out, observed His life and heard His teachings. They could love Jesus because of their personal experience with Him. They could keep His commandments because they had seen them lived out in His life. But the rest of the world – some living then and all those who would live after His death – would never have the opportunity to observe Jesus in the same way the disciples did.

This is where it gets amazing! The disciples would become the outflow of Jesus’ life and love to the world. For over two thousand years now, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has carried on through the lives of those who have seen Jesus, first through those who saw Him physically here on earth and then, through those who saw Him portrayed in those who carried on His life and love in their own lives.

This is how a watching world can learn to love a Jesus they have never known – they see Him in the lives of those who do know Him, those who love Him, who are obeying His commandments and to whom He has manifested Himself. This is the perfect plan that God instituted over two thousand years ago! This is what Jesus’ church is all about!

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34-35)

This kind of faith is far from being blind, as some would claim. It’s just that it can only be seen through the eyes of love.