Debt of love
Day 573, Saturday, Mar. 7
Romans 13:8-14
It may seem odd to think of love as a debt that is owed. If we think in terms of what we owe God, we are more likely to think of things like repentance.
But Jesus sacrificed himself for us not because he had to, but because his overwhelming love made him want to. We have received love beyond measure. Our response is to repay that debt to the people around us.
Paul said, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” We no longer owe a debt for sin; we have been freed. Our only debt now is to love, and in loving we fulfill the law.
He said in verse 10, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
The Christian life is not a life of learning and obeying an endless list of rules and laws. The Christian life is lived when we “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Saturday meditation

Psalms 90:1-10
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.
We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Prayer focus
Lord, make us people of love.