a Debt of Love

Rom. 13:8

Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

 

 

I have a debt of love that I owe to my fellow man. To believers, most certainly because we are of the same body, and to unbelievers, because they need to see the love of God in my life. This chapter says that all the commandments can be summed up in one word--You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is the one commodity that is so hard to give to others. By its very nature love demands that my flesh give way to others, that I meet the needs of others before mine. The natural response is for my flesh to rise up and demand its way first before others. So how can I obey this commandment? Only through the grace of God. When He saved me, He gave me new life. When He died, I died to my flesh. When He  rose up from the dead, then I rose up with Him in newness of life. The power source for this new life is not my flesh but my new, spirit- empowered life. He has told me that He lives within me in all His resurrection power. It is through Him that I can love others first and fulfill this debt of love.

 

Father,

Thank You for this great gift of love and for giving me a new nature. Give me grace and strength to love others before myself.

In His name.

Amen