The Quote:
“What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul.” ― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Wisdom from Scripture:
Romans 13: 8-10 (The Message Translation)
“Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.”
Ephesians 4: 1-3 (The Message Translation)
“In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
Comment: I love the Message translation especially for passages that are already very familiar to me. It brings out the edginess of scripture’s wisdom. Do I think I “owe” people love in the way I may owe money to the bank? No, not particularly. Yet, in the church community that Paul envisions, a reflection of Christ’s love, we owe each other love. Let me think about it again…
Prayer: Lord God, fill our hearts with love, and mellow the mechanisms of our heart that constantly make us seek our own gain. Open for us a new vision of our family, friends, and neighbors, that we may see them in the light of your love. Amen.