Romans 13:8-10

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8

There is nothing better in this flawed world than to love one another! That was Paul’s conclusion as he neared the end of his long and sometimes tedious letter to the Romans, and it has been the central teaching of every authentic religious leader ever since. 

Of course, having affirmed the centrality of love, there remains a lot to be said. Folks can go on endlessly describing the many facets of loving, and narrowly defining it to fit a particular religious point of view. What we must remember is that all such notions, no matter how beautiful they may be, remain the products of our human point of view.

Paul knew this of course, and taught that we learn love only after imitating Christ by  emptying ourselves of all our various cultural and religious selves. When we get to the end of this long and somewhat painful process of discarding all that is dear to us, we will be at our divine core. We will be one with Christ, and in Christ we will exude love, mercy, and kindness from every pore, and there will be a purity to those virtues that we never even dreamed possible. And it just happens! We will have no understanding of where the effortless loving is coming from. We only know that it is the pure presence of God’s Holy Spirit! And it’s a wonderful place to be!

Thought for the Day: When have I experienced spontaneous loving?