THE DEBT OF LOVE

Rom. 13:8-10 Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbors, you will fulfill all the requirements of God's law. For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting---and any other commandment---are all summed up in this one commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God's requirements.  NLT

       Jesus loved us enough to go to the cross and stay there on it for us. His love led Him into the pits of hell to overcome death's grip on us. He took the full fury of God against sin upon His own heart so we wouldn't have to on ours. His love for us was stronger than His love for himself.

       No matter what we do, we can never repay the debt of love we owe Him. It is impossible for us to fully grasp the price Jesus paid for our sins simply because He loved us and wanted to spare us the agonizing consequences of sin.

       We are compelled to love Him in return. How can we not? We can't love Him as much as He loves us, but we can love Him more than we often do. One of the proofs of our love for Him is how we love each other. Loving others is the heart of Christian living. We cannot truly claim to love God if we don't love one another. So the issue becomes how that love is played out in our lives.

       If you love someone, you will not do them wrong. You will not purposely do anything that will harm another. Love seeks the good of another. It takes on the character of love found in I Corinthians 13:4-8a. This has a twofold application for us.

       We will be diligent about how we act so that we will not be guilty of leading someone astray. Love dictates that we will be godly examples so that no one will be driven away from the Lord by what they see in us.    

       We will not treat others with anything but God's love. We will weigh carefully our speech and actions so that we can do that which is good and not harm to those around us. We will treat others with grace and mercy instead of condemnation.

       If we do these things, we will fulfill God's requirements of love.  We will also discover a new found respect for others and ourselves.  We show our love for God by obeying Him in the matter of loving others.