Owe No Man Anything But To Love
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”
(Romans 13:8)
To love one another? How can you love everyone? How can you
love who you don’t know? What if you do know them and don’t even like them?
These are all good questions, but they are asked purely from
the human perspective and experience. The love mentioned in the verse above is
not a human love, it’s a Godly, Christian love and takes on an entirely different
meaning and intent than what man may be accustomed to when it comes to love.
Worldly love is rooted in human emotion. Christian love isn’t
a matter of emotion, attraction or like. Godly love is not an impulse driven by
feelings or desire and is not dependent upon any urge, need or inclination to
satisfy.
Godly, Christian love “seeks the welfare of all, Rom 15:2,
and works no ill to any, 13:8-10; love seeks opportunity to do good to 'all
men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith,' Gal
6:10.” (Vines Expository Dictionary).
When we look at what love is, it becomes apparent as to how we
can love someone without really knowing them or even liking them. The heart
that is dedicated to God will always seek for the comfort, security, safety, and
protection of his fellow man. It will come as natural as breathing. There doesn’t
need to be an emotional connection to the person other than the desire to seek
out the welfare and well-being of our fellow man. Blatant displays of Godly
love are after a disaster. When neighbor helps neighbor after a hurricane,
tornado, or flood. Sometimes it’s in a less grandiose fashion such as helping
someone up a flight of stairs, checking up on someone who is sick or injured,
or literally just being a good next-door neighbor.
The driving engine for Christian love is God. A Christian will
make manifest their love for God through their dealings with other people.
Loving people is loving God. People are the object of that love.
God is His own essence and being. John said that God is
love. This is demonstrably true. God’s love is a display of His Divine will.
This being the case, love is a matter of will. Love will always have an object,
for we can’t love nothing.
God has an object, it’s His chosen people. That love has
been displayed through creation, redemption, regeneration, and salvation of His
elect.
Chosen
“For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord
thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people
that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you,
nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the
fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep
the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand
of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
Saved
“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved.” (John 3:15-17)
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. Imagine the
world this would be if we all loved God and exercised that love through our
efforts of welfare and concern for other people. With that in mind, it should
be clear now how selfishness and self-centeredness are opposites of love and
are the epitome of sin.
Bill Hitchcock
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