Devotion #6: Submerse Yourself
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:8-10
It can feel overwhelming when we have a million things on our to-do list. It can also be overwhelming when we have a million guidelines or rules to follow, especially at our jobs, because we do not want to mess things up. I remember when I was in college, my favorite thing to do was write essays. Essays gave me peace because they were easy for me. Well, they were easy for me up until I had this one professor who absolutely tore me to shreds when it came to my essays. I remember the first time I turned one in to him. I felt great and confident in it, but when I got the grade back along with two pages worth of criticism, my perspective soon changed. He said a lot, including a list of rules when it came to writing. He gave me a copy of a worksheet that gave details of how he graded papers so that I could further work on my abilities. Looking back, it was very kind of him, but during that time, it felt like I had to follow 100 different rules in order to get a good grade. After that, I did not like writing essays much anymore because I became too critical of myself.
We can begin to be over-critical of ourselves when we focus too much on following the rules, and I think Paul is trying to get at that in this passage. As a Christian, it can be hard to get everything right. When someone does us wrong or we meet someone who challenges us (like a college professor), it can be hard to love them. Sometimes, we mess up, and we do not honor the law that we have been blessed with. Often, instead of leaning on the Lord to forgive and to help us repent, we unknowingly say, “I can fix this on my own.” Then, we choose our own way of going about things, and that can lead to a path of stress, anxiety, and cynicism. We need to remember that as Christ’s followers, we are called to love the Lord first.
Matthew 22:37-40 says, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’”
We love the Lord by giving our lives to Him. We also love Him by praying in times of need or even in times of joy. We love Him by studying His Word, worshiping, praising, and putting His needs before our own. Loving the Lord is like submersing yourself in water, fully surrounding yourself in Him. Once you have fully done so, you will seamlessly fulfill the law. This means that the love you feel in your heart will start to affect the way you act. It will become easier to love those who challenge you. It will be easier to not do the sin that you have been struggling with for years. You will start to be Christlike in your actions, and this will further lead you to fulfill His law effortlessly.
However, it takes work to get to this point. It takes discernment. It also takes you allowing the Lord to open up old wounds that have not been healed. When you have a moment, take a look at 1 John 1:5-10, which talks about walking in the light. You will find that it takes you fully allowing the Lord to be the Lord of your life - to fully submerse yourself in Him, to walk in the light. Once you love Him first and then others, as Paul says, you will be fulfilling the law.