By Allen White
Let no debt remain
outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others
has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You
shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever
other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the
fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:8-10
Some of us have lived under the tyranny of a religion that said,
“Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Don’t even think about doing that other thing.”
Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Dah, dah, dah. See it doesn’t work.
As Maxwell Maltz puts it, “Glance at negatives, but focus on
positives.” If I love another person, then, guess what? I’m not going to envy
them or steal their spouse or hate them. We don’t do things like that to people
that we love.
Rather than trying hard to abstain, we must fill the void with
something positive. Over-focusing on avoiding negatives, leaves us constantly
thinking about negatives. Nothing positive can come out of that. It’s sort of
like being on a diet and thinking about all of the things you can’t eat. Not a
lot of weight loss going on there.
The Law and legalism can bog us down. What am I supposed to watch?
What can I say? What can I not say? How much am I supposed to give? Do I tithe
off of the gross or the net? If I can get away with it, is it okay?
The fulfillment of the law is a four letter word – L-O-V-E. What
am I supposed to watch? Answer: Love. What does someone else want to watch?
Maybe we should just turn the thing off and spend time with someone we love.
What should I say or not say? Answer: Love. How can I show this
person that I love them by what I say or what I don’t say? Love doesn’t insult.
But, we are also to speak the truth in love (Ephesians
4:15). Am I holding back on something that I need to say because I
want to avoid a negative reaction? Am I holding back on the last 10 percent of
positive feedback I should give someone? How can I love this person with my
words?
You get the picture. The question is not “What is the right thing
to do?” The question we should be asking is “What is the loving thing to do?”
If I truly care about the other person, what should I do for them?
If I don’t care about the person, then why should I feel that I’m right with
God? You might object and say, “But, you don’t know what they did to me? You
don’t know what they said about me?”
Look at what we did to God. At some point, we were (or are) God’s
enemy (James 4:4). We sinned against God. We violated His character. We disobeyed.
We failed. Yet, how does God respond to us? God responds with love and
forgiveness and the desire to reconcile with us.
If God can get passed all of that with us, then what is keeping us
from forgiving others? What is blocking our ability to truly love them? If you
lack what it takes, ask God to help you love them.
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