Love Is the Fulfilling of the Law

Imagine if there were a “love detector,” like a lie detector, that we could use to determine if our acts and behavior towards others were truly an act of love. And that before we said or did anything we would test it by the “love detector.” We would ask, for example, “Is this act, or word, loving?” I wonder if all our words and deeds would pass the test. 

In a sense, we have a love detector in the Ten Commandments. Jesus summarized them by saying it means loving God with all of heart, mind and soul and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We could then ask before we did something, said something or thought something, “Is this reflecting love toward God and others?” 

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote that love is the fulfilling of the law. (Galatians 5:14). That is, if our acts are done in and through love, we are passing the “love meter.” But how practically do we live a life such as this in our sinful fallen nature?

God’s love is unselfish, other-centered and self-sacrificing. Our natural condition in sin is selfish, self-centered and concerned for getting not giving. I believe it is beholding, and experiencing God’s love for ourselves first, then we can pass it on. 

There is a Biblical principle in 2 Corinthians 3:18, which is by beholding the glory, goodness and love of God, we are changed into wanting to be like Him. We want to love others because God first loved us. The apostle John said it this way, “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. John also writes, “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, or others.” 

When we are touched, impacted and moved by God’s love revealed to us in the life and death of Jesus, we are motivated to love others. Love begets love. Let us spend more time beholding and experiencing the love of God for us and I believe it will overflow to others by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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By James Shires

President