We’ve all heard the phrase “love is the answer” or that “love conquers all.” Does it? I think its a safe bet to say yes, it really is all about love. And what greater love is there than the love of God?
God loves us and Jesus told us to love God above all else. When we stop to think about what this love means, some, but not all of us will probably come to similar conclusions. For example, for me personally, because I love God above all else, I want to please God — I want to do good and be good and I want to go forth and as He commanded, love my neighbor as I do myself.
Love really is an unfathomable power. Love is so strong that if we all embraced it and truly lived with the mission of loving everyone, we would literally heal the world.
I recently saw the Bible passage Romans 13:8-10 and it really got me thinking. Here it is:
Fulfilling the Law Through Love
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.
We know that one cannot enter Heaven simply by obeying the law. Primarily, that seems to be because we are imperfect and we are all sinners and since sin cannot enter Heaven, simply living our lives as a slave to the Abrahamic laws will not in any way assure us entry into heaven. We know in fact, that it is through faith in Jesus and full, passionate belief in Jesus, asking Him to forgive our sins and help us to repent that we get to Heaven. Now, there are a lot of people running around still enslaved by the law and that is sad, as many don’t really have a true faith.
But Romans 13:8-10 tells us that the really important thing is faith and love — that we are to be loving and kind and that we are to love our neighbor as we do our self. And if we do love our neighbor as we do our self, then in truth, we would want our neighbor to be healthy, happy, safe and prosperous. And we all know that by neighbor its not just the people immediately near us, but it is really, all of our brothers and sisters — we are all God’s children and thus, family and thus, neighbors.
What I love about this passage? Read “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Do no wrong to our neighbors. You may not understand them. We may not fully relate to them. We may not want to spend time with them. But…and this is a big one…we are to do no harm to them and we are to love them. This means, we are to treat them the same way we want others to treat us.
So, love is the answer. Love is the solution. Love is bright and happy and good. Love is rewarding and peaceful. Lets us all commit to opening our hearts to giving and receiving love and lets get started healing this world of ours.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” – John 13:34
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” – Colossians 3:12
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.” – 1 Corinthians 4:5
