Good Morning Friends,
Someone once said, “Love God and do as you
please.”
While that philosophy isn’t specifically
stated in the Bible, Paul does seem to ascribe to the philosophy that love
fulfills all of our obligations with respect to our relationships with other people.
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the
continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has
fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’
‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no
harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans
13:8-10)
True love means that you always seek what is
best for the other person, even when it means that you have to accept what is
less than best, or even harmful, to yourself.
So, true love would never commit adultery. It’s
neither best for the person with whom you commit adultery or for the spouse to
whom you’ve made a lifetime commitment.
True love would never murder another person –
that can’t be in their best interest.
True love would not steal from another
person. True love would be committed to taking care of the property of the
other person so that it is available for their use.
True love would never covet what another
person has. Rather, it would rejoice that the other person has that possession.
And all of the other laws that God has given
that relate to human relationships are fulfilled when we respond to others with
true love – always seeking what is in their best interest.
Of course, the human heart is deceitful and we
must continually test our heart to be sure that it is not justifying
selfishness under the guise of doing what is best for someone else. The more
our heart is in tune with the heart of God – and therefore in tune with true
love – the more fully we can be free from the edicts of the law and just follow
what our heart says to do.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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