Love Fulfills

"For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:14 NLT

In a split second, their lives were changed.

Bobby and Jackie were a young couple with a small child. He had been called into youth ministry and was serving in a little church not far from Jackie's home. Things were going well-until the accident.

Out of nowhere, a truck slammed into their vehicle. Jackie and their infant daughter, Angie, weren't seriously injured, but Bobby's life was changed forever. The wreck placed him in a vegetative state for the remainder of his life.

I was told the story when I became Jackie's pastor. Angie was a young child without a father, Jackie was a young wife and mother who for all practical purposes had no husband, and Bobby lay in a nursing home fifty miles away.

I visited Bobby once a month, and every time one of his family members was present. They all took turns caring for him. Bobby was fed with a tube, but he still needed constant attention. Coughing spells racked his body. Fluids drained from his mouth and nose.

As I watched Bobby's family tend to his special needs, I realized what the apostle Paul meant. For the committed Jew, the law consisted of the Ten Commandments, the ceremonial laws, and the laws added by the religious authorities. For Paul, it was simply God's moral laws, and all of them could be obeyed by merely loving one's neighbor.

I've seen enough love for the wrong reasons. The consequences are never pretty. But loving for the right reason paints a beautiful portrait. I can experience and demonstrate love because Christ has loved me. While I was still a sinner, Christ died for me and now gives me the opportunity to love for Him.

Loving others sets an example. As I watched Bobby's family perform the unpleasant parts of caring for an invalid, I was reminded of Jesus washing His disciples' feet. The example was inspiring. Loving others gives an example to those who desperately need to see love in action.

When we love our neighbors as ourselves, we also point them to Christ. Our words may not crack the hard shell of someone who doubts or disbelieves in Christ, but it's hard to argue with acts of love. They say what our words can't adequately speak.

Just ask, and God will give you myriad opportunities to put love into action for others.

Prayer: Father, give us the fortitude to love others as You love us so we might point a hurting world to a healing Savior.

Martin Wiles mandmwiles@gmail.com