Love is a Four-letter word. Literally. In English, at least. So also is the Spanish verb, now that I think about it: amar. A quick Google search shows that this is also largely an English-speaking phenomenon. But you get the point.
Obedience is also a four-letter word. Metaphorically. Again, at least to most Western, English-speaking ears. We don’t like to be told what to do. We prize our self-determination above almost all else. We like to believe, at least, that we are our own masters, that we have made up our own minds and do only what we want to do. For the most part we’ll be compliant with the law, but the idea of plain-old obedience rubs against independent grain.
So to link up these two Four-letter words—one literal, one metaphorical—causes some cognitive dissonance. To love is to obey? To obey is to love? So says Jesus in relation to his teaching. And also the opposite: Disobedience is unloving.
It’s unclear to me which comes first, the love or the obedience. Does love come first, thereby making obedience easier? Or does obedience come first, leading my heart into love? Who knows. Perhaps it’s a chicken and egg scenario. Perhaps both are true.
