This week's passage, Romans 13: 8-14, begins with a reminder that all the law is summed up in one: you must love your neighbor as yourself. Love fulfills the law. It's interesting to me that Paul does not include "love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul" to his new understanding of the law. Perhaps truly loving your neighbor IS loving God....
Then Paul, saying "as you do this" (I love his optimism here), you know what time it is, and it is time to WAKE UP, the day which came from the Light is near. Charles Wesley preached a sermon called "Awake, Thou That Sleepest." What he meant by someone who was "asleep" was someone that was satisfied or content in their sin, ignorant of it and the "cure" for it, or never heard, recognized, or cared about God's invitation to faith and salvation. Whether we are "asleep" right now, or have momentary moments in our lives that we "take a nap," the message here for us is: "wake up to my graceful invitation to faith and love, and go and do likewise."
Our salvation is at hand, folks, and it is brought forth by loving our neighbor. To be saved is to be freed to love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other obligation, but to love. In a world where we have to earn everything, grace is is un-earn-able.
In a world where we keep tabs of all of our debts and receipts that are owed to each other, God does not. God only requires that we love our neighbor. And that indicates our salvation. It's so earth-shattering to me that loving people shows God that we are indeed saved by God's grace through his son Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God.
See you Sunday!
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