To Joyfully Abide

I've had two words bumping around in my head for a while now.
ABIDE
and
JOY.
John 15:9-11 says,
"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.  Abide in my love."
(And I think to myself...how do I abide in the love of Jesus?)


"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love."


"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."


I think of the 10 Commandments...written in stone for the life of the people...can you imagine the world we'd live in if everyone just obeyed the 10 Commandments.  But this recipe for joy and abiding in love seems deeper than that...more than just "Thou shall not steal....".

According to Blueletter Bible, the word commandment here is found in Strong's Concordance in the Greek as the word "ἐντολή entolē", which translates as 

1) an order, command, charge, precept, injunction

a) that which is prescribed to one by reason of his office

The Lord tells us to keep everything that he has given us as truth, that he has charged us 

with....and I am reminded of truth upon truth that has given me direction from his Word and I remember who I am and who He is in me...and then I also remember something else, written in Matthew 22 verse 36 and 37.

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"  And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."


Hmmm...so

Love=Obedience=Abiding=Love=Joy