“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:10)

This is an interesting verse because I don’t believe Jesus is being conditional, but rather stating an assurance of inclusion when we follow God’s word. Jesus is saying, definitively, that we will remain in God’s love when we keep His commands. And while the opposite is implied (reducing His love for us when we don’t follow His commands) there may not be a lot of biblical backing for this implication. Yes, God will turn His back on sin, and because God is holy, He can’t even tolerate to be in the presence of sin. Yet we know that Jesus spoke about the good shepherd leaving the 99 to gain back the one that was lost. So the idea that God reduces His love for the sinner doesn’t seem to fit with other scripture. However, we do know that God (even though He loves us deeply) will, at times, hand us over to ourselves and our sin. He does this when we purposely choose our sin over Him. Yet I’m still tempted to say that God doesn’t stop loving us because of this result. He would prefer us to come to our senses, repent, turn from our sinful desires and seek Him. And in that moment I’m confident that God will respond with open and loving arms. But today’s verse tells us that we should not take God’s love for granted. We shouldn’t live our lives separated from the source of true love only to be saved in the final hour. God is calling us into His kingdom. He wants to fill our hearts with His love. And to this, we have Jesus’ promise that when we keep His commands we will remain in God’s love. So I’m not a biblical scholar, but I just feel that God doesn’t stop loving us. That said, He does want us to do the right thing, and when we do, His love is assured.