That 4-letter word.

"Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law."

(Romans 13:8)

613. Sounds like a former major league baseball home-run record, but it's not. It's the number of commandments (or laws) in the Hebrew Scriptures. Six hundred and thirteen. That's a lot to remember.

When folks asked Jesus for the essentials, he broke it down to two: love God with all you have, and love your neighbors. Simple. Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome broke it down even further: LOVE. That's it. Just love. If you do that, says Paul, you fulfill the entire law.

In our culture today, we hear the word "love" and we think of erotic, romantic, passionate, soul-mate kind of love. There's definitely a place for that in our lives, sure... but that's not the kind of love Paul (and Jesus) was referring to. THAT kind of love is selfless... puts others' needs ahead of our own... is grounded in servanthood and sacrifice... goes out of its way to believe the best in others... etc. It's also, unfortunately, hard to do.

We tend to default towards ourselves. It's human nature. Self-preservation and all that. We want what we want... get hurt easily... have a hard time letting go of past hurts and granting forgiveness... are jealous... and often operate out of a "scarcity mentality."

Jesus and Paul challenge us to be different. When we embody the commandment to love others, it changes how we view others (and the world around us!)... how we speak... even the choices we make with our bodies. We often think (or bemoan) how troubling the world is today. But what if we ALL made the intentional choice to love. Period. Just love. Everybody. All the time. Believing the very best about others.

We might just be surprised at how much God helps change our lives along the way!