Romans 13:8-10
Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
This scripture had me shook when I read it, it 👏had 👏me 👏shooketh👏. The shookness came from the revelation in this scripture that can answer a theological question that has been burning in me and many others for a very long time. Romans has the answers to many questions. But before we get there let’s break these scriptures down a bit.
The scripture starts off by telling us that we owe nothing to anyone. The only thing we owe to anyone is love. The only thing we are obligated to do as people and followers of Christ is love one another. We’re not obligated to please people, or bend over backwards trying to make someone happy, no all we have to do is love them. The crazy thing about that is, this is the most simple, yet profound and complex command ever, but it’s so beautiful when you think about it and put it into perspective As humans we love naturally, whether we want to admit it or not we all want to be loved and we all want to love. It’s who we are, and it’s astounding the measures love can go. However, sometimes we make love complicated by adding conditions to it, and using it to get what we want. We often find ourselves hearing or saying, “If you really love me, you will…”. But love is not manipulative. Or we “mistake” love for something else, like empty words, or lustful eyes, and sex. Love is not that either. This scripture is so profound because even when we decide to give up on love or stop trying, someone is still out there obeying the command of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to love us. If we don’t deserve anything else, we deserve love. When we uncomplicate things we will realize that love is a basic part of living. It makes for a much happier life as well, life is just more enjoyable and fruitful when you choose love… Moving on…
The next part of the scripture is the part that had me shooketh. It says, as you can read above but I have to repeat it for emphasis, “If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” Crazy right?! Now before I move on, one of the many questions that many Christians have is, if Jesus came to die for us, then why do we still live by the ten commandments which are in the old testament? It’s always been this kind of debate, or seeking an answer of if the New Testament is the way in which we supposed to live as opposed to the old testament, because you know Jesus, He’s the way, the truth, and the life. The question lingers, do we still have to live by the laws of the old testament? The answer to that question is summed up in the next part of this scripture. Where is says…
“ For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.”
Meaning every command is summed up in the two commands Jesus gave us,
Matthew 22”37-40
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
By obeying these two commands we obey all ten commandments. We do not ignore the law in the name of Jesus instead we honor it by following His path. What I mean is that Jesus gave us these two great commands to love God and love people. Now if we love God, ourselves, and others these commandments are fulfilled. Simply because love is the foundation of it all. We don’t hurt the people we love, we won’t steal from them, kill them, covet what have, sow discord, because love won’t allow us to do it. It’s almost as if love obeys the commands for us. When we love God we won’t put anything before Him or use His name in vain. Love won’t allow it.
We’ve been to this scripture so many times to talk about love, but this time I actually recognized and understood verse 40, The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. This has been the goal from the beginning. Love has always been the foundation of it all. We know that from reading Deuteronomy 6:5, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength”.
All this to say, Love has been and will always be the foundation of who we are. If we love God, ourselves, and others, in that order than we are fulfilling the commands of our Father in heaven.
Reflection/Prayer Time
Take the time to share and discuss what we talked about today. Go back over the scriptures and even read the full passages. Pray and ask God for clarity and revelation of His word.
I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 229!
👏👏
No comments:
Post a Comment