Someday I'll Get It

Rom 13:8, 10 "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law...Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

Sometimes I wish I just kept my thoughts to myself. In fact, I wish that I never had these thoughts. I Cor 13:5 says: “love…thinks no evil…”. That is where I get into trouble. Jumping to conclusions. Assumptions. Too many times they are not positive and they are wrong.

I experienced this recently. I heard something, read something and then assumed something. It was not a positive thought and it resulted in a frank e-mail. Two errors were made here. 1. My assumptive thought. 2. Expressing it through an e-mail. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. If I had applied I Cor 13, I would have thought the best not the worst. I would have made a phone call, not an e-mail. I would have gotten all of the facts and not jumped to conclusions. I would have been an encourager, not a discourager.

This is the truth about today’s verse. Don’t owe anyone anything. Don’t owe them money. Don’t owe them favors. Don’t owe them reciprocations. Owe them only one thing: love. Always pay back in love. Always give love. Always extend love. Agape love. Unconditional love. Unreasonable love. God’s love.

When I do this I will be fulfilling and completing what God originally wrote in the law. I won’t do harm, I will do good. I will honor my parents, I will not murder (or hate), I will not commit adultery (or lust), I will not steal, I will not lie, I will not covet. Love is the completion of all of these things and more. It is not just what I will not do, it is what I will do. I will be patient, and kind, and selfless, and true, and hopeful. I will not jump to negative conclusions but will jump to build others up.

Please God, help me think in love, help me act in love, help me talk in love, help me write in love, help me walk in love. Someday I'll get it.