Monday, May 20, 2013

Romans 13:9


"For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Romans 13:9


This is both awesome and scary st the same time I think.  Awesome because all the commandments can be summed up in one.  We don't have to go list all of them, explain the minute distinctions, and try to keep track.  ... Scary because less direction usually means more responsibility, and we have to make good decisions, and live up to how much God is trusting us.
And back to awesome again, of course.  The idea that love encompasses everything else is really true... it touches us at our core.  And the converse holds true as well... that all sin arises, somehow, out of lack of love... at least lack of the right kind of love.  We could (and do) argue that sexual sin comes from love... but is it really love, or have we twisted it into obsession or lust?  If we truly loved... God, the other person, others that could be harmed by our actions, and even ourselves, we would probably save everyone the pain, heartache, and guilt, and avoid the sin.  And the same goes for every sin.  God doesn't ask us not to do things in order to control us or limit our freedom.  He asks us because he loves us, and he wants to save us from pain.
God also asks us to do things because he loves us, and he knows that we will be happier the more we learn and the more we grow, and the closer we get to Him.  And here, he asks us to love.  All of the commandments wrapped into one... one thing to do.  Simple, right?  Okay, not really.  Not always.  But today, let's work on it.  Love.  Love the people around us... love the people not around us.  Love everyone, look at everything we do with the filter of how can we love better... love more people, and love everyone more?  And as we work on that, we'll be building God's kingdom.  We'll be approaching Zion.  We'll be becoming who we have the potential to become.  Love.

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