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

In this short passage, Paul is nothing short of profound; deep in fact. Yet it is so simple that we might just fly past it and not notice how profound it is; a second grade child can easily understand it, and it requires a mature adult to miss it− that is how simple it is.

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

If we think of love as a mere emotion or feeling, maybe we can miss this, but godly love is not an emotion, it is a commitment to put the interests of other people ahead of our own, and love in action puts the interests of everyone ahead of our own. If we actually do this, then we will not do anything to offend or hurt them, and if we love God we will not do anything to hurt or offend God. We will not do this because somebody told us that we must, we will do this because we want to.

In short, this is the transformation that Paul spoke of in 12:1-2; this is love in action from 12:9-16.

There are times when I grow weary of people telling me that the Bible never tells us how we should accomplish the Christian life; yes, dear reader, I grow weary of such remarks:

Put your love into action!

“But how do I do that?”

Love your neighbor as yourself.

“But that is too hard.”

No, it isn’t too hard! Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength.”

“But how do I do that?”

Make a decision that you love God, and then commit to stick with it and trust the Holy Spirit to give you the strength you need.

“But that’s too hard.”

Dear Lord, open our ears that we might hear, open our eyes that we might see, open our hearts that we might believe so that we might become like little children and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.