Day Eighteen
Romans 13:18 - 10
The only thing you should owe to anyone is love for one another, for to love the other person is to fulfil the law. All these: You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and all the other commandments that there are, are summed up in this single phrase: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love can cause no harm to your neighbour, and so love is the fulfilment of the Law.
Reflection
No one likes being in debt. Being in debt is like being a prisoner of someone or something. St. Paul encourages his readers to be free of all debts other than the "debt" of mutual love. We don't often think of love as being a "debt." But, if you think of it, it makes sense. A debt is something that is "owed" to someone else. Jesus gave his followers, and that includes us, the new commandment to "love one another" as he has loved us. That is a debt, therefore, that we incur when we become Christians.
How do we pay this debt? By loving. There are many ways that Christians can show love to one another: praying for each other, helping each other, forgiving each other, spending time with each other, etc. Jesus paid the supreme debt that we owed but could not pay: the price of our salvation. "He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt a could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away..." a Christian song goes. Jesus paid the debt of love for us and calls us to pay this debt of love to others. We are to lay down our lives for one another in mutual love.
Prayer
Praise you, Jesus, for paying the debt we owed for our salvation. Thank you for the debt you have given me to love one another as you have loved us. May I pay the debt of mutual love every day of my life and be joyful in loving others.
Amen.
