Love Fulfills The Law

Romans 13:8-14

Love Fulfills the Law

8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

LOVE MY NEIGHBOR

By: Charles Stanley

The second part of Jesus’ love command is to love my neighbor as I love myself. At another point, Jesus takes our requirement for loving one another to another level. He says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13). Loving our brothers just got harder. The standard of loving my neighbor as I love myself is a high standard but not as high as the standard of laying our lives down for our friends, an allusion to the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf.

How can I describe what that kind of love for my fellow man looks like?

The priority love to my fellow-man shows up in my relationship with my parents, ouch! Any of us who have lived through being a teenager probably have offenses toward our parents we would rather forget. But the kind of love Jesus describes honors our parents first.

Love for my fellow man is always redemptive. When I am offended I never become angry and throw insults around about the stupid idiot who just mistreated me. I will never murder someone, literally or figuratively, no matter how severely I have been offended or injured.

Love will always honor the sanctity of my marriage. I will never allow anything to break the covenant bond I have with my wife. Love will always honor the sanctity of my friends’ marriage. It is a holy thing. No matter how hot my friend’s wife may be, she is not mine and my heart will not desire her. With this kind of love, I will never commit adultery, even in my heart.

A Solid Faith

by Inspiration Ministries

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. John 11:25 NKJV

Born on this day in 1732, George Washington was known for fairness. While some have doubted his Christian convictions, the evidence is clear that his faith was genuine.

As a young man, Washington knew the Bible and sensed that God had a special call on his life. He often attended church services. It is said that he would begin and end each day with prayer, alone in his room.

As a soldier, he served with confidence, knowing that God was with him. He experienced many miracles. Horses were shot from under him, but he survived unscathed. His troops were spared when they could have been wiped out. Miraculously, their needs were provided.

As army leader, he insisted on times of prayer and told his men to “fight as true Christian soldiers.” As America’s first President, he made sure that faith was central to that office. Taking the oath in 1789, he laid his hands on the Bible, adding the phrase, “So help me, God.” This became a tradition for all future Presidents.

Washington’s tomb was engraved with Jesus’ words, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” His last words were “Father of mercies, take me unto thyself.”

The Bible reminds us that God needs to be the foundation of our lives. He created the earth. He is the source of wisdom. He alone can protect and guide us. Boldly let others know that you believe in God. Make sure that you trust Him and base your life on His Word.

Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins

By: Simposious.com

Romans 12:1-8

Jesus’ sacrifice corresponds exactly to what Adam lost​—one perfect human life. (1 Corinthians 15:21, 22, 45, 46) The Bible says: “Just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one person [Jesus Christ] many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:​19) This explains how the death of one man can pay the ransom for many sinners. In fact, Jesus’ sacrifice is “a corresponding ransom for all” those who take the steps necessary to benefit from it.​—1 Timothy 2:​5, 6.

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

The great reservoir

By: Charles Spurgeon

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23

Suggested Further Reading: Matthew 12:33-37

If I should vainly attempt to fashion my discourse after lofty models, I should this morning compare the human heart to the ancient city of Thebes, out of whose hundred gates multitudes of warriors were wont to march. As was the city such were her armies, as was her inward strength, such were they who came forth of her. I might then urge the necessity of keeping the heart, because it is the metropolis of our manhood, the citadel and armoury of our humanity. Let the chief fortress surrender to the enemy, and the occupation of the rest must be an easy task. Let the principal stronghold be possessed by evil, the whole land must be overrun thereby. Instead, however, of doing this, I shall attempt what possibly I may be able to perform, by a humble metaphor and a simple figure, which will be easily understood; I shall endeavour to set forth the wise man’s doctrine, that our life issues from the heart, and thus I shall labour to show the absolute necessity of keeping the heart with all diligence. You have seen the great reservoirs provided by our water companies, from which the water which is to supply hundreds of streets and thousands of houses comes. Now, the heart is just the reservoir of man, and our life is allowed to flow in its proper season. That life may flow through different pipes—the mouth, the hand, the eye; but still all the issues of hand, of eye, of lip, derive their source from the great fountain and central reservoir, the heart; and hence there is no difficulty in showing the great necessity that exists for keeping the reservoir, the heart, in a proper state and condition, since otherwise that which flows through the pipes must be tainted and corrupt.

For meditation: God is the only one who knows the natural wickedness of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:9), the only one who can renew them (Ezekiel 36:25-26) and the only one who can produce good from them (John 7:38-39).

God Sends His Messengers With Good News

Malachi 3

By: Simposious.com

3 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ

Ephesians 1

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ

Praying and Growing

By: James Banks

Bible in a Year:

Leviticus 23–24; Mark 1:1–22

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God.

Jonah 4:1-11

When my friend David’s wife developed Alzheimer’s disease, the changes it brought to his life made him bitter. He needed to retire early to care for her; and as the disease progressed, she required increasingly more care.

“I was so angry at God,” he told me. “But the more I prayed about it, the more He showed me my heart and how I had been selfish for most of our marriage.” Tears welled in his eyes as he confessed, “She’s been sick ten years, but God has helped me see things differently. Now, everything I do out of love for her, I also do for Jesus. Caring for her has become the greatest privilege of my life.”

Sometimes God answers our prayers not by giving us what we want but by challenging us to change. When the prophet Jonah was angry because God spared the wicked city of Nineveh from destruction, God caused a plant to shade him from the hot sun (Jonah 4:6). Then He made it wither. When Jonah complained, God answered, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” (vv. 7–9). Jonah, focused only on himself, insisted it was. But God challenged him to think about others and have compassion.

God sometimes uses our prayers in unexpected ways to help us learn and grow. It’s a change we can welcome with open hearts because He wants to transform us with His love.

Atmosphere of Encouragement

By: Dave Branon

Bible in a Year:

Leviticus 21–22; Matthew 28

Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

Today’s Scripture & Insight:

Romans 15:1-7

I’m encouraged every time I visit the fitness center near our house. In that busy place, I’m surrounded by others who are striving to improve their physical health and strength. Posted signs remind us not to judge each other, but words and actions that reveal support for others’ conditioning efforts are always welcomed.

What a great picture of how things should look in the spiritual realm of life! Those of us who are striving to “get in shape” spiritually, to grow in our faith, can sometimes feel as if we don’t belong because we’re not as spiritually fit—as mature in our walk with Jesus—as someone else.

Paul gave us this short, direct suggestion: “Encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). And to the believers in Rome he wrote: “Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up” (Romans 15:2). Recognizing that our Father is so lovingly gracious with us, let’s show God’s grace to others with encouraging words and actions.

As we “accept one another” (v. 7), let’s entrust our spiritual growth to God—to the work of His Spirit. And while we daily seek to follow Him, may we create an atmosphere of encouragement for our brothers and sisters in Jesus as they also seek to grow in their faith.