Thursday – Letters

Reading – Romans 13

Highlight Verse:

“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

There is so much in this chapter I could talk about.

Before you ask, I’m not trying to avoid talking about obeying the governing authorities or paying taxes. I just find that this verse both sums up the rest of the chapter and provides the basis for it.

Our neighbors pay taxes. Our neighbors both obey the government and, at least in theory, are the government.

If we love them as we are commanded, we will live in cooperation with them.

We will do our share for our community, state, and country.

While we’re at it, we probably shouldn’t cheat, kill, steal, lie, or covet. Those are still commandments – made to help us love one another with the love that God gave us.

Of course, if you’re really serious about loving your neighbor, you’ll stay away from the wild parties and the rest of that stuff at the end of the chapter.

Imagine a world where everyone followed the teaching of this chapter! That would be amazing.

Of course, that world didn’t exist back then and it certainly doesn’t exist now. But we can do our part to bring that to our little corners of the globe.

Have you ever thought about the Ten Commandments in the light of them being the tools to show God’s love to the world?
What difference can we make through the commandments listed here?