SCRIPTURE
"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law...Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.'" (Romans 13:8-10)
OBSERVATION
The only debt we should have outstanding is the debt to love one another. The bible talks about another kind of indebtedness--unforgiveness. When we have offended someone we are indebted to them. When someone has offended us they are indebted to us. In order to release the debt, we offer forgiveness. Here Paul is reminding us to keep our accounts current. The only allowable debt is the one that we owe each other to fulfill the law...love. Love always seeks the best for the other person. It does no wrong to a neighbor. Jesus' example shows us what love involves...sacrifice. It's not about the feeling we receive, that would make it focused on us. But it is about the other person, making it a debt we owe to them. It always seeks to do the best thing for the other person no matter how hard that may be.
APPLICATION
I really need to develop that kind of love. Instead of trying to think of every way that I can be more loving, this verse simply states it in the negative: do no harm. I need to run everything through this filter. Is this word or action going to do wrong or will it benefit the other person? I need to cancel the debt of unforgiveness by forgiving, but the debt to love others is one that I will never payoff. It is to be the habit of my heart.
PRAYER
Lord, you showed me what love looks like in Jesus. I want to more fully develop that sacrificial kind of love by doing no harm to the people around me.
