June 29

Romans 13:10 gives us a heads up on how to fulfill all the requirements of the law. It says, “Love does no wrong to its neighbor, therefore it meets all the requirements of the law.” There it is in capsule form. To meet all that God expects of you for as long as you exist on the planet, simply love.

Or, perhaps it shouldn’t be stated as ‘simply love.’ Loving isn’t always simple. Do we even know what love is, let alone know how to love? We know the grammar of the word. We know it can be a noun—an emotion that is shared between or among people. We know it can be a verb—an action that expresses a profound feeling for another.

But do we understand love well enough to attach our whole duty of complying with the law of God to it? For if we do not comply, if our love is not sufficient, our eternal salvation is at stake! Can we actually say that we’ve done no wrong to our neighbor? Have we by the purity and steadfastness of our love met all God’s requirements?

The answer as regards fallen man is “No!” emphatically, on every point. But, as with all the beautiful things about the Savior God we love (at least as well as we understand the word) is that it’s not about us, it’s about Him. Though our love for Him and for others is imperfect, the perfect love of Jesus covers ‘all our sins’ Proverbs 10:12.