Verse 3.— For this is the love of God. The natural expression of our love of God— that is to say, its outward expression— is in obedience. We obey the commands; this shows our love. By this standard we can measure our love of God. This is the sure test. Not grievous. His commandments are not burdensome; that is as much as to say they are not difficult for God's children to observe, generally speaking, and the difficulty only appears to our human nature when we are called upon to suffer for his name's sake; and, even in this case, the early disciples rejoiced when they were required to so suffer for the cause of Christ.