Now there are many verses in Scripture that exhort us to love but my favorite one is in Romans 13..."owe no one anything but love." Here is the verse in its entirety.
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he 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 bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,”] and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.--Romans 13:8-10
Girls, if you got this one down...you got it all. If you can return good for evil, you are doing well. You have learned how to live. Read how Paul addresses those the Lord put in his care. He calls them dearly beloved. He tells them how he longs to see them. He is not short on expressing his love nor is he short on what love really is...action. It is a verb. I like to think of it as active kindness. Love is self-sacrificing. Love loves the lovely and the unlovely. Love loves even through much offense. Paul's motivation for all he did here on this earth after his conversion was love. For Paul to live was Christ and to die was gain. He magnified His Lord in his body and like Christ reached out in love despite the provocation to do the opposite. He knew that eternity was at stake. He knew that the offenses were not important...having others see His Lord working through Him was.
Love like this can only come from a humble mind. It stems from humility. We only need to look to Jesus to see. Chapters 13-17 of John are filled with Jesus reassuring His disciples of His everlasting love for them. When I read these chapters I always picture a dying mother taking her last breaths with her children surrounding her and completely losing herself in her love for them. That is what Jesus did. He met the greatest of betrayals with what...love. He washed all his disciples feet just hours before He would be nailed to a wooden cross. All includes Judas, the disciple that Jesus knew would betray Him. He faced the cross with what...love. He thought of others in the midst of the deepest suffering anyone could ever know. Read the chapters...see His absolute grace and humility. Jesus prayed for you and I in Chapter 17 reaching out across centuries with His love. Jesus knew who He was...and yet he stooped down and washed His disciples feet....He knew who He was and yet He faced the cross. Can we as His followers do any less?
Here is what Paul says in the third chapter of Colossians.
"But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Character of the New Man
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.1 Corinthians 1:4-8 defines love: Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
This is what we are to do girls. We are to put off the old, unloving, unforgiving, and bitter practices and in humility put on love because it is the bond of perfection. Your life will not be your own until you do...you will eat yourself alive and bite and devour those around you. Bitterness, unforgiveness and selfishness destroy both spiritually and physically.
If you find yourself today running around with bitterness and unforgiveness towards someone in your life, here is what you do. Remember that it is the wrong response. Jesus never displayed bitterness or unforgiveness. You really have no place to hide. Repent...go in the other direction. Get down on your knees and ask God to help you love that person, to help you forgive that person. Surrender to the Spirit of God inside of you whose ministry is to manifest Jesus Christ and love that person. Next, go to that person and see if you cannot build a relationship of love with them. Yield to His love shed abroad in your heart and let it flow. It will be the most wonderful and not to mention healthiest thing you do in your life. Do not be bound by unforgiveness. Jesus greeted all offenses with more love...in fact he turned the blackest evil into the greatest good by love. He met the greatest offense and injury with the greatest kind of love. We have no excuse. None.
This Thanksgiving owe no one in your life anything but to love them. Love fulfills the law. Love never fails...it always has an effect.
Love
Mom
