Love Again

In the last devotion we considered how hard loving the unlovable neighbor is.  Yet, God sent all his messengers to tell us that love them we must.

Romans 13:8-10 tells us if we love another we have fulfilled the law.  When you think about it, you can't show love if you are sleeping with your neighbor's wife or stealing from him.  Love and killing are not compatible.  If we covet or bear false witness, we are not fulfilling the law.  Strife and envy do not show love.  Therefore, to bottom line this, if we love others, it follows that we have to keep the commandments or at least keep trying.

It is no doubt easier for all of us to love a collective humankind than it is to love each individual person, or, for that matter, individual nation.  It's easy to get upset with countries that are always threatening others, and it is even easier when the people are up close like neighbors, family and co-workers.  But, love them we are told we should do.  And we should love them as much as ourselves.

The fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington reminds us all that if we love somebody, we should set them free.  After all, excessive power needs and love are extremely incompatible. 

I close with words from the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, "Free at last, free at last.  Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."  And now, may they feel the love.