Scripture Basis
Weekly Devotion
Both the Psalm and the 2nd reading for this Sunday focus on love, in similar, but different ways. Lets try to unpack them to understand not just what the story is, but how they affect us in our daily life.
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and to understand its meaning, we must first look at the beginning of the Psalm. The Psalm begins with these words: “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,.” These words could be taken as a guide for a good and happy life, but the original Hebrew words point to a different insight. These are words of invitation. It is about access to the kind of life intended by God with one’s whole heart (verse 2). It is walking continuously in praise of God (verse 1). It is not intended to be a path towards God, but rather a way of life as we make our journey through life.
Our Psalm for the day begins at verse 33 and 34 with these words: Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. The way of your statutes (verse 33) is not a pathway to arrive at worship of God, instead the worship of God is the pathway. It is those well-worn places where we are meant to walk in faithfulness with God which proves to be the source of pure delight (verse 35). The pathway of God and the pathway with God become the real source of life.
The Psalmist continues with a plea to God for removal of the distractions that would seek to divert us off the well worn path of God. Asking God, imploring God, if you will, to turn our hearts to God’s will instead of selfish gain, and turn our eyes away from the worthless things that so easily capture our attention. These verses (35 – 39) are a reminder for us that we cannot, on our own, be immune to the things that seek to distract us. Seeking God’s help is the only way through the challenges of such terrain. The Psalmist is asking God to do something. Teach me. Give me understanding, Lead Me. Turn my heart. Turn my eyes. Confirm your promise. Turn away my disgrace. Give me life. The Psalmist doesn’t say “I’ll try harder,” but rather “Lord, you must do this in me.”
The Psalmist is helping us understand that our prayers must be bold to walk with God and at the same time a humbling confession that we need God’s work in our lives. We cannot make the walk, holding at bay all the distractions that surround us, without the work of God going before us.
Perhaps the psalm ends where we should begin—with a fervent longing for the pathway of God.
This theme of longing for the pathway of God is carried through the reading from Romans. Paul begins with a summary of the Ten Commandments that both begins and ends with the call to love one another, for this is the fulfillment of the law (verses 8-10). Paul continues with calling us to lay aside any form of living that does not honor God, that does not honor the law of love. Paul is not telling us to get ourselves into right relationship with God. God has already done that. In Christ we have been claimed, forgiven and made God’s own. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” is an invitation to live outward in what God has already given us. Christ is God’s gift to us.
This law of love Paul describes as avoiding reveling, which is excessive partying and wild behavior; avoiding drunkenness, debauchery, and licentiousness, which may be taken as reckless indulgence in immoral behavior, and avoiding quarreling and jealousy. “That is not the way you learned Christ!” Ephesians 4:20
Put on Christ. Put on the law of love. Live in truth. Deal with the neighbor with the righteousness of God. Love the other even when the feeling is not there because love is a behavior even more than a feeling.
Putting on Christ, the law, the whole armor of God, is not for when we leave the house for others to see, nor is it just public behavior and attitude. It means that we wear Christ at home, in ALL our family relationships (especially when it is hard to do), in our prayer and those small personal choices. Sometimes it easy to love humanity. It can be considerably harder to love the human sitting across the kitchen table.
This is Gospel freedom, which is to say that we consider the well-being of others, everyone around us and all those we encounter. We are free to consider the well-being of our neighbors knowing that in all things we are secure in the love and mercy of God.
We do not love so that God will love us. We love because God already does. We do not walk God’s pathway hoping that somewhere along the way we will finally find Christ. Christ has already found us. He has claimed us in baptism, forgiven us in mercy, and clothed us with himself.
And because we are secure in that love, we are free. Free to stop asking whether our neighbor deserves our love. Free to stop waiting until we feel loving. Free simply to love.
Love, after all, is not merely something we feel. Love is something we do—because in Jesus Christ, love is what God has already done for us.