If you love me, keep my commands…Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him…Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them...Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. John 14:15, 21, 23, 24a NIV
John 14 hammers home the point that God equates our obedience with our love. So what do we, who love God, do when we are struggling with temptation? Where do we find the strength to faithfully obey the God we love, when the draw of sin feels like it’s more than we can resist? We find it within; not in ourselves but in the Spirit that lives in us.
Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4b NASB
Jesus told his followers that he would send the Spirit to help us. He referred to the Spirit as our Advocate and our Comforter. He is the one who gives us the strength to resist sin and obey God. When tempted we must cry out to Him for help and surrender our will to Him. When we allow our nature to be in control we will fall time and time again. But our love for God compels us to surrender control to the Spirit who gives us the strength to obey. Paul summed it up very nicely in Romans 8.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:1-15 NLT
What a blessing to know we have no obligation to do what our sinful nature urges us to do! because the Spirit gives us freedom!