If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commands:

The condition of the heart is the key, not the words.  One can draw an analogy with a husband saying to his spouse “I love you”.  If he is sincere, if he means it with his heart, then there will be evidence of this in his actions.

There is a profound difference between a person who only says the words and a person who believes the words in his heart.  The difference is that the person who believes the words in his heart will desire to follow God’s will.  This is the point James makes when he declares faith without works is dead:

James 2:17-18:  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  ¹⁸Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

A true believer’s heart has been changed.  Romans 8:9. When a person comes to faith Christ enters that person’s heart to dwell.  A person with Christ residing in his or her heart cannot keep this life force stilled.  It bursts force in action.  It is an unstoppable reflex of the faith carried in the heart.  It is the natural response of thankfulness to the gift of eternal life. In John 14:23 Jesus says:  “If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.”  True faith always results in a person striving to follow God’s will.  The premise that “Saved By Faith Alone” means a person will wantonly live a sinful life is absurd.

Romans 6:1-2:  What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  ²God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Rather, the greater a person’s faith, the greater their response to God’s love will be; a response visible in the form of works of faith.  Such a response to faith is exemplified by the Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 1:3:  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;