Jesus was confronted by the religious leaders, who asked him what the greatest commandment is. At that time, these leaders had extracted 613 laws to follow from the Old Testament. Can you imagine being responsible for 613 laws? This is our attempt to create measuring tools to justify whether we are worthy enough. When confronted, Jesus simply answered, “Love God and love others, for the law and the prophets are fulfilled in this” (Matthew 22:35-40). In other words, the entire Old Testament can be summarized in love.
So, how do we fulfill the law? Consider that love works within us. 1 John 4:19 tells us that we love because He first loved us. How do we know He loved us? John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world,” and John 15:13 reveals, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” It is God’s love that compels and motivates us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
The law and the prophets are fulfilled by Jesus’ love, which was displayed on the cross, where God’s love was greatly manifested. This love beckons us to come and rest in its work, reminding us that there is nothing we can do to deserve such a gift, only to receive the love of God. Wow!
Meditate on this verse:
1 John 4:7-12:
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
We are constantly saying “I love you” or “we love you” when I’m deployed with the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief. We say it to everyone we meet. The look on their faces sometimes is of shock, sometimes it brings them to tears.
I vividly remember a time when we circled up to pray with a man. We put our arms around each other’s shoulders like a huddle. When I put my arm around this man, he flinched. It was the same reaction you would see if you raised your hand to a dog that was beaten daily. The man on his other side experienced the same reaction. We wept for this man knowing that he’d probably never felt the loving touch of anyone. The world needs love, but more importantly it needs God – who IS love.
I find it very hard to love some people. But love for each other is not optional. It is the one thing I am commanded to do (John 15:12, 17). And when I choose to obey Jesus’ command, I find that his Spirit, living in me, helps me to love like this (Gal. 5:22), even to those I find challenging to love. And when I love, I more fully experience God’s love (1 John 4:16) and promote love and unity within the body of Christ.
Be willing to follow the example of Jesus (1 John 4:10–11), and love one another with this kind of love.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NIV)
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to like a loving person, and how hard it is to disapprove of them in any way? I have known people like this in my professional life and in my family. They weren’t the best at their jobs, or at many things in life. Some of them were quite bad at these things, but it was impossible to dislike them or cast them aside. Love is the most attractive quality that a person can have. It is the quality that most resembles our God.
Lord, please help me to be more like you, more loving.