Well done! You owe nothing to anyone and sleep very well at night. Your conscience is totally clear. Debts have been paid and there are no more bills coming in the mail. Now, it’s time to celebrate the good life, but in the following verse from Romans, between the commas, there is a troubling sentence: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8), there is this ‘exception’ and it strikes deeply into the heart. Does this mean that to hold animosity or maliciousness toward anyone makes us a ‘Lawbreaker”?
Well, isn’t this what Jesus taught when reminding everyone about God’s Ten Commandments? Didn’t My Lord add one additional commandment that fulfills all the rest? What did HE say? You find it in the Gospel according to Matthew 22: 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” That pretty well sums it up, donchaknow. So, when we say we are “lawful unto God”, if there is animosity toward another, well, what do you think about the way we live today? Sobering, Huh? And that’s what I get from My Box of Chocolates. AMEN
