what's love got to do with it?

Romans 13:8 (NLT)

Love Fulfills God’s Requirements

Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.

How often have I wondered, “what does God require of me?” I have asked this question in many contexts of my life. In this verse it is startlingly clear: He requires me to love others. In the NLT translation, I find I am even obliged to love others. I do not want to get hung up on the negative connotations that word has for me, so with God’s grace I am going to focus on the latter portion of this verse.

When I think of God’s laws, I think of the Ten Commandments. So here I find that if I love my neighbor, I fulfill those requirements. Sounds simple enough. Until I get to some of the more ambiguous commandments … those about coveting, lying (yes, I’ve been known to be less than truthful at times), let alone that whole question of just who exactly is my neighbor … so if I just love others, I’ve got it, right?! Simple, but not easy.

Throughout the past two years or so, I have often found God bringing my attention back to this very command: love. Faced with various situations, this seemed to be his response to just about every question I put to him. So I prayed it for myself, I prayed it for others, I prayed it for this very community. There were times when it seemed like I (or we) “got it”, and that’s exhilarating. Then there were times when I (or we) were so far off the mark that I felt the wind had been knocked out of me. What more can I do? I can’t manufacture love, but I can pray for it. God, who is love, gives us good and perfect gifts. What is better or more perfect than love?

Posted by Candice Letkeman