Fulfilling the law through Love (Esv title)

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Romans 13:8-14

Today's Bible reading is quite significant for me. To further understand the passage, allow me to quote from a book that I'm currently reading at the moment - which has a wonderful explanation of what this passage really means:

In thinking about sin, it is so easy to get "religious" instead of spiritual. But religion never did a lot for overcoming sin, as we have seen. Instead the Bible calls us to true spirituality in our fight against sin. Ultimately this has to do with love. Becoming spiritual is to realize the two great commandments of loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself (Matt 22:36-40). In fact, Jesus said that all the commandments rest on these two. So what does that have to do with dealing with sin?

Well...to love God means that we begin to obey Him as well as do things His way. That goes a long way toward curing the problem of sin. But also, we need to mention that loving other is also part of the cure to many sins of the self. We often think that to love others cures the sin of how we treat other people. For example, if we are mean...loving others means to stop being mean. That is quite obvious.

What is less obvious, however, are the ways that loving others cures our own problems as well...

This is proven true by prison programs that get criminals eye to eye with the victims of their crimes. When the criminals see the pain they caused, they change. Love does its work where rules and commitment could not. That is why Jesus said that all the other laws and rules depend on love.

Therefore, in your fight against sin, no matter what it is, remember the law of love. No matter what someone is struggling with, most likely someone else is being hurt by the sin. Addictions hurt the family. Lust hurts the marriage partner. Irresponsibility hurts many people. And on and on. There are no victimless crimes, and in helping people with sin, the Bible affirms a strong message: think of how your behaviour is affecting other people, and that will motivate you to stop when rules won't. Remember, all the Law and the Prophets rest on the ultimate Law of Love.

You know, you might've seen it. I have extreme pharasaical tendencies - that is why at the beginning of this post i wrote "Today's Bible reading is quite significant for me."

The tension between law and love is something that I still find really hard to make good sense of. The question of: "can i love both God's laws and the lawbreakers at the same time?" "How can i be serious of God's laws yet not taking it seriously when others are breaking it?"

I know. That's very pharasaical thing for me to say. Because in those two statements - I haven't mention the fact that I too break God's laws. How can others love me who kept on breaking God's laws?

The reality of sin i know. Things are not making much sense to me at the moment. But one thing i've learned today is "Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Yes - if i am guilty of owing anyone anything - let it be to owe them the love that they are due. Because i know that my paharsaical tendencies had allowed me to withdraw love from God's people just so that I can uphold my religious demands.

Prayer points:

1. Praise God for allowing me to see a bit more clearly of the sins that i've been hiding

2. Pray that I would always be a humble servant of His kingdom - and to remember that the laws that God demanded of His children is the law of Love - mercy and grace.

3. To love His people just as He had loved me

"But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit"