Fulfill His Love

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

—Galatians 6:2-3

 

In Galatians 6:2, Paul gives instruction that we are to help others carry their burdens and in doing this we fulfill the law of Christ. Jesus summed up all of the Old Testament Law in His commandment to love God and love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). Then He gave us an even greater command. We are to love others as He has loved us (John 15:2). The unconditional love of Jesus bore the whole burden of our sins on the cross. We love others as Jesus loved us by bearing the burdens of others. And in doing this, we fulfill His New Covenant commandment.

 

The word “burden” in Galatians 6:2 is translated as a “heaviness, weight, or trouble” in Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon. This can be such a heavy weight that if the burdened person has no help in carrying it, he will be overwhelmed. This may be either a sin (Galatians 6:1) or a trouble in life. Our love must go beyond just seeing others hurt to helping them carry their load. If it is within our power to lessen their pain, we should allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how we can help them overcome their sin or trouble.

 

Yet, how often do we ignore someone else’s burden of sin or trouble? 

 

Paul says in Galatians 6:3 that if we think we are too important to stoop down and help others with their burdens, then we are deceived about our own importance. Our self-importance—how we value ourselves—profits us nothing. None of us are anything within ourselves. And none of us have any good excuse for not helping restore our fellow believers. This was one of the blatant hard-hearted sins of the Pharisees. 

 

This verse in the Amplified Bible Classic Edition reads, “If any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another’s load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself.”

 

Most people are rarely “deluded and deceived” by someone else’s arrogance and pride. The trouble we often have is the difficulty in recognizing our own. We have a choice. We can delude and cheat ourselves with our “superiority” or we can allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s true estimation of who Jesus is in us. There is no deceit in Christ. So when we surrender to who Christ is within us, we make the choice to not be deceived. We choose not to think that we are above anyone else. 

 

We reveal the true worth of Jesus’ love in us when we are not too important or too prideful to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to help others carry their burdens. Jesus had no lofty ambition. He never asked anyone about their sin. He just healed them. The sin Jesus addressed was the hard-heartedness of those who judged others harshly by the Old Testament Law instead of by the Law of His love. We are to be one-minded with Jesus. We are to love with His love without condemnation and hypocrisy. 

 

Our human love achieves nothing. It cannot love as Jesus loved us. It is only the love of Jesus in us that loves without judgment and condemnation. We choose to extend Christ’s Law of Love and act upon the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Then the person who is suffering can find Christ’s strength to overcome and be restored.

 

“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Philippians 2:1-3).

 

Never deceive yourself that you are better than anyone else. Never condemn others with a condescending attitude. There is no condemnation in the love of Jesus. There is consolation, comfort, and support. Jesus never condemned you. He never thought Himself better than you. He took the condemnation for your sin to give you His love. 

 

You fulfill the love of Jesus when you know its fulfillment in you. When the Holy Spirit unveils the unconditional love and grace of Jesus in your heart, you have no desire to refuse Him anything. You choose Him. Your flesh gives way to His Spirit. Seek the revelation of who Jesus is in you. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. You will love others because He first loved you.

 

 

© 2024 Lynn Lacher

www.lynnlacher.com/2024/04/fulfill-his-love.html

 

 

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