Some Christians seem to reduce the faith to a set of beliefs. Believe in Jesus and you get a reward. But Jesus himself doesn't speak this way. Jesus asks people to follow him, to emulate the sort of life he lives. And in today's reading, he predicates doing as he has taught on loving him. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
Now and then I have counseled married couples who are struggling. Often both work very hard at the marriage and are more than willing to change their behaviors for the sake of the other. But sometimes one or both seem unable to do so. They are happy when "love" makes them feel good or meets their needs, but they seem incapable of doing something purely for the sake of the other, especially if that involves setting aside their own wants. In my experience, such people are emotionally quite immature, and it can be very difficult for them to save their marriages unless they can do some significant "growing up."
Sometimes I think that traditional American churches have been very good at bringing people to immature faith. Such faith is happy with the personal benefits of faith, but it never learns to go much deeper, to develop a loving, spiritual relationship with God that is happy to change behaviors for the sake of that relationship.
But in my own faith, and in the life of many congregations, I see hopeful signs. And here I think the popular interest in spirituality has been a real blessing to us. Despite how misguided some pop spirituality helps are, the spiritual hunger behind this has revealed the need for deeper faith relationships, a genuine need that the Church's traditional focus on doctrine and right beliefs has done too little to encourage and nurture.
If you love me...
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