Paul keeps hitting on sensitive topics in this letter! For years, if you were going to be a good person in the Jewish mind, if you were going to be one of God’s chosen, If you were going to go to Heaven, you had to follow the Law – and follow it to the nth degree. For example, Deuteronomy 6:8 says, “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” The Jews literally took bits of Scripture in little wooden boxes and strapped them to their forehead and bound it to their arms in an effort to abide by this verse.  

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It almost feels like the Jews were trying to over think and over complicate things, which manifested as religious acts. They took things so literally that they wore Scripture on their bodies. It seems they struggled to grasp that everything flows out of God’s love for us, not our own righteousness.

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Jesus says in Matthew 5:17 that he came to fulfill the law. This doesn’t mean he brought in the final piece to it that no one had thought of. Through His work on the cross, he permeated the law with his love and made it more than some wooden boxes to strap to your arm.  

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I once heard an interview with Tom Satterly, an army vet who fought in the battle of Mogadishu. He was asked if he hated the people who killed his friends. What he said was no. He said, “I have the love of Christ filling my heart, and because of that there’s no room in my heart for hate towards them.”

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See, this soldier, although he had gone through a horrific ordeal, saw the world through the lens of God’s love, and in that, any anger, fear, and anxiety are shed and replaced with God’s love and peace. He has been infused with the love God poured out on him through the cross.  

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It is really easy to get caught up in what religion says we should do, being the good Instagram Christian – both the picture-perfect good person, and, I could argue, the broken Christian, who is just real and showing they have stuff in their life. Paul is saying that, regardless, if it doesn’t start with the love that Jesus poured out on us, then it is all just trivial.  

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So today, whether you are in the midst of a soul-crushing fight with an angry boss, or just enjoying a summer day with friends and family, let us strive to operate out of the same love Christ poured out on us and show that love to everyone.  

Jesus, first and foremost, thank you that you loved us so much that you shed your blood for us. I pray that, as we go through our days, we first receive your love daily, and second, that we share it with everyone we encounter. We love you. Amen.