“If Ye Love Me…”

In the middle of the Ten Commandments, God describes Himself as “shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6, Deuteronomy 5:10, Mosiah 13:14). It’s significant to me that He connects obedience with love.

At the Last Supper, Jesus taught His disciples that love motivates obedience, and that obedience invites God’s blessings:

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Even the Spirit of truth.

John 14:15-17

Commenting on this passage, President Henry B. Eyring said:

Keeping the Lord’s commandments requires more than obedience. We are to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and soul.

Those who do not love Him do not keep His commandments. And so they will not have the gift of peace in this life and in the world to come.

“Finding Personal Peace,” General Conference, April 2023

I interpret this to mean that obedience with any other motive is unsustainable. If we obey God out of a sense of duty or fear or greed, we will not be able to maintain our momentum. But when our obedience to God is motivated by love for Him, then His power and His peace flows into our lives to help us continue.

The good news is that when we keep God’s commandments, our love for Him grows. As the people of King Benjamin gathered to hear his final sermon, they were so grateful for a leader “who had taught them to keep the commandments of God, that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men” (Mosiah 2:4). There is a symbiotic relationship between love and obedience. As John wrote, “This is love, that we walk after his commandments” (2 John 1:6; see also 1 John 5:3).

I love this setting of the passage from the Last Supper quoted above. The music was written by Thomas Tallis, a Renaissance composer from England, and this virtual performance was released during the pandemic by the King’s Singers:

Today, I will remember the relationship between loving God and keeping His commandments. I will strive to show my love for Him by my adherence to the guidance He gives me. I will remember that, as I follow that guidance, my love for Him will increase.