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Much of Paul's letter to the Romans is a love story between a righteous God and sinful man. We read of man's potential wickedness in Romans 1:18-32; and we soon realize that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23).

Even though our sinful state sentenced us to an eternal death (Romans 6:23), God looked upon us with love: "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). God loved us long before we knew Him - He loved us and gave us His Son.

On the night before He was crucified, Jesus talked with His disciples and commanded them to love one another. He then told them to what extent they must love: "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34).

Consider the depth of this passage for a moment. Jesus Christ, through whom "all things were made," (John 1:3) - the Creator of the Universe - "made Himself nothing...being made in human likeness." (Philippians 2:7). Jesus Christ came to earth in human form; He "humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8). The Son of God died so we could be restored to an eternal relationship with our Heavenly Father. This Jesus Christ now commands us to love one another as He has loved us!

Romans 13:8
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another."

Paul knew the fullness of Jesus' love; he knew we were commanded to love one another in a like manner - he also knew we could never truly fulfill Jesus' command of love; His love was simply too great. The love involved in our Salvation is beyond comprehension; and yet, His love continues with the gift of His Spirit for daily guidance and strength. We have a love-debt which we can never repay!

Notice that our debt of love to Jesus has become a debt of love to others. Paul calls this a "continuing debt." It's a debt which will be with us for the rest of our life. Though we can never fully repay, we can honor Jesus' command by welcoming our debt and joyfully loving those who are placed in our path: "We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19).

Honoring Jesus' command doesn't mean we love just the loveable or those who love us in return - it means we love...and then we love some more! His love for us is beyond understanding. Let's accept our debt and love one another as we make regular (daily) payments toward our continuing debt of love.

Copyright 2002, Steve Troxel. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

About Steve Troxel: Steve Troxel is the President of God's Daily Word Ministries. Steve was trained as an Electrical Engineer and received his PhD in 1994. After working as a researcher in a laser laboratory for several years, Steve felt the call from God to leave his trained profession and enter into full-time ministry. His devotionals are now sent around the world via email as well as distributed in book format. More information about this ministry as will as a "sign-up" page can be found at: http://www.godsdailyword.org

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