Keep

"If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

I grew up thinking that keeping the commandments was Jesus simply telling me to do something. If I do it I'm saved, and if I don't do it I'm lost.

In the New Testament, the word "keep" comes from several Greek words. One of them means "to make or do." This is used in Matthew 26:18, where Jesus talks about keeping the Passover.

The translators chose not to use this word for John 14:15, however. Instead they chose one that means "to guard (from loss or injury, properly by keeping the eye upon...)."

When you keep something, you already have it, and because you value it, you keep an eye on it.

"I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one" (John 17:15).

This word "keep" is translated from the same Greek word as in John 14:15.

Wow! Could it be that God keeps us in the same way we keep His commandments?