“Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse:
there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today,
and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.
Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.
If only you had paid attention to my commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’
“If you love me, you will keep my commands.
The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”
Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.
This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.
The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:
The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.