July 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

We learn right behavior toward our neighbors only after we have experienced how God has conducted himself toward us.

God has loved us. Eternal love set all God's saving work in motion. God revealed the fullness of love in giving his Son for sinners. And God keeps us in his own love by the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Now it's our turn to give. But whatever we give we must first receive. We cannot produce the kind of love the Bible talks about. We don't have this love. That's why we could not keep the law, for the law wants us to love. And we cannot give what God requires until God himself has given us what he is asking of us.

"Love is the fulfillment of the law." We have not yet done what God commanded if we refrain from murder and hatred. The law is fulfilled by loving. It is not enough to refrain from stealing what belongs to another. We must learn to share in love what God has entrusted to us. And love is learned from God. When we know God's love in Christ and when it is ours by the Spirit, we begin to love.

That's why boasting is out of place in the Christian life. What we give to our neighbor, we have received from God.

Some people misunderstand the Bible's teaching on Christian love. They think love has replaced the law, and that love is a feeling in your heart you must now follow as the rule for Christian behavior.

However, lawless love is not of the Spirit, just as loveless law is not of God. What the law requires can be given only in love. And the only ones who can render this obedience are those who have received new life and love through Jesus Christ.

Only after we have believed the gospel can we begin to fulfill the law. The more we know of God's love, the better we can obey God's law. For of him and through him and unto him are all things—even our own obedience.

REFLECTIONS

Think of an example of love without law and law without love. How would you describe the right relationship between love and law?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.