Faith
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law” Romans 13:8-10.
My husband Bruce has spent his entire life working extremely hard at whatever task laid before him. His focus like many has turned from building a career into ending well in his career. The goal is now retirement and one of the tasks is paying off our home. We have been blessed with our home for almost thirty years, but it has been the largest source of debt in our life. To assure the task of paying it off, we have laid out some intentional ways to avoid this debt remaining outstanding. Our debt cannot be fulfilled without our commitment to the goal, self-discipline in our daily walk, and the sacrifice of other things to accomplish the payoff.
This morning I consider our verse as it aligns to this same principle. God placed His commands in the order of importance, with loving Him above all people at all times. He followed up with loving our neighbor which is the by-product of keeping the first commandment. ‘All the laws…hang on these two commandments’ Matthew 22:40. Our love for others reveals our love for God. Our contempt for others shows secret contempt for Him. If our goal is to keep God’s command then we must be intentional to our commitment to Him. We must be self-disciplined in our daily walk such as paying down this debt with extra currency of love and grace. We cannot window shop in the areas of bitterness and judgmental attitudes. To keep love to ourselves or a small few is to keep our spiritual debt outstanding, never accomplishing God’s goal. To accomplish the fulfillment of our spiritual promissory note for which we are indebted, we must sacrifice our own will and love all of those whom God loves.
Christ paid our debt in blood and we are to pay our debt in love. What He asks for in return is to love Him first and everyone else second. There is no caveat as the law does not give us exclusions or exceptions but rather instructions. Love always works for the benefit of another just as Christ’s love for us gave us eternal salvation.
‘But the greatest of these is love.’ 1 Co. 13:13.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 487 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Brenda Emmons or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 487 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.