Owe no one anything expect to love each other
Romans 13:8
The gospels tell us Jesus did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it and if we examine our verse today we find that love is the fulfilling of the Law. Jesus lived and moved from a place of compassion towards people and love for the Father. In this place, love works no wrong to another.
When we come to Christ we learn His way to love and of course, this becomes a growth process for us. The love God has shed abroad in our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit enables us to carry this pure love for all. We have been enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to love all, all the time, in all conditions and now we have to choose to live by the power the Holy Spirit gives us to love or we choose to live contained to our pre set limitations.
If we could only love enough…… we could resolve so many of our relationship issues. Love works no ill, love does no wrong. The NLT says that love is a debt we never finish paying. Pauls’ prayer in Philippians for love to abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, is so we can approve what is excellent and thereby be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. The dynamic of this love is that it gives us greater knowledge and discernment so we are able to righteously express His love and bring Him glory.
This love never fails, absolutely never fails. We fail, but love never does. We all have relationship failures. Jesus said divorce (not just in marriages) can only occur where there is hardness of heart. The Book of Hebrews tells us this hardness of heart results from not hearing today, in the moment, what the Spirit is saying. Rejecting His word, His help, moves us away from God into unrest. All abundant life, comes to us through the working of the Holy Spirit. He is the help God has given us to live abundantly. When He speaks, listening and obeying become our responsibilities.
Beyond what any others may do or say, our job is to respond rightly to Him first. He will tell us what to say. He will show us what to do. Love works no ill. Love never fails. Love is always kind. Love is the cure for pride. Love is the cure for selfishness. Love is the cure for jealousy and envy. Love is the cure for bitterness and strife. Perfect love drives out fear. Where there is fear there is torment and a need to be rooted and grounded in love. Jude tells us to keep ourselves in the love of God. This gives us great hope because Jude obviously thought this was in our control.
Pauls’ prayer from Ephesians three was to know the fullness of this love that surpasses knowledge that we might be filled with the fullness of God. We want that. We want to live expressing this pure, unadulterated, holy, love God has for us and all men. We want to express this love righteously in all circumstances. Our words, seasoned with grace, bringing hope and encouragement to the broken hearted. Our hands reaching out to help those in need, always motivated by this consuming love for mankind’s well being. The Apostle Paul wrote to pursue love, eagerly seek to acquire this love, make it our aim, our great quest.
If we love well, all men will know we were disciples taught of the Lord.