`What does it mean to remain in God’s love?

To answer this question, we need to understand how Jesus experienced his inner relationship with the Father, and how that relationship then translated to people. And how we are to enter into a relationship with Jesus. Jesus speaks of the need for love, for it is through love that the deepest bond is formed. Let’s think about how Jesus loves us as the Father loves Jesus. We see, that he loves him in such a way that he gives him a mission.

And how Jesus loves the disciples. In a way that makes him fully available. Love is love when He doesn’t keep something for Himself and gives Himself for people. Staying in my love is therefore problematic because they say the shirt is closer than the coat. In this case, closer is that which is more perceptible to the senses, and so staying in awareness of God’s love is not easy. For we are so distracted from it, whether by external distraction, by the multitude of duties that demand attention, or by internal distraction, that it is easier for a man to dwell in thought on what he has experienced than on that mysterious awareness of God’s love.

This is precisely what cannot be achieved by some single decision. It is in abiding that one must keep on abiding. This love is conditioned by obedience to God, that is, by keeping His commandments. Usually, we contrast obeying and loving. Obedience is regulations and barracks, and love is voluntary and joy. It is not quite so. Parents tell the child. You may do this, you may not do that, but it is imbued with love. Keeping the commandments means tuning into the life of God because everything that God has created has been distorted by sin. The commandments came into being after sin. Until then, there was no need for commandments because man made his own choices for what was good and did not need commandments. As a result of sin, man began to go off course, and those courses needed to be named. And those are the commandments, or in other words, the standards by which man is to live with God. Sin means that man wants to go his own way and thus loses God.

We have it instilled in us that a commandment is something that restricts a person. Why? It must be said that our concept of sin is subject to certain distortions, which have ancient historical origins. It was that misguided asceticism, whether influenced by Jansenism or other currents. Love and commandment were separated and God was feared. The times were different. Children were punished more than they are today. The atmosphere was that parents were commanding children, but there was also an awareness that God punishes us when we do wrong. The upbringing of the priests also had an influence. The essence of the command is love. To keep the commandments without God’s grace is unthinkable.

Today, however, it is as if people themselves create and determine, what is good and bad. To keep the commandments is to understand them. The commandments are the condition of love, but they are also the fruit of love. Our civilization would not exist if there were no physical laws. We are discovering them. As soon as a man breaks a physical law, it is a crash. We just cannot perceive that certain laws are also written in the heart of man. Man chooses his path. If he keeps the commandments he decides life, if he does not, he decides death. The commandments do not restrict life, but on the contrary, protect man’s life from misfortune. One should not only command and forbid, but also explain why something is commanded or forbidden. What is my relationship to the commandments?