Daily Devotions
Sunday, July 13, 2025
“May we Thy precepts, Lord, fulfill And do on earth our Father’s will As angels do above; Still walk in Christ, the living way, With all Thy children and obey The law of Christian love.
“Spirit of life, of love and peace, Unite our hearts, our joy increase, Thy gracious help supply. To each of us the blessing give In Christian fellowship to live, In joyful hope to die.”
Our hymn speaks of “the law of Christian love.” In our culture today, love and law are words that are not often associated. Love may be understood as license, permission to live according to one’s desires, even if those desires are contrary to the Law of God. In contrast to that point of view, our hope and desire as Christians is to do the will of our Heavenly Father. We love Him and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we want to obey His commands. In Holy Scripture, the commandments, or precepts, of God are summarized according to the word “love.” Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all of one’s heart and soul and mind. The next greatest commandment, Jesus said, is to love your neighbor as you love yourself (see Matthew 22:37-40). The apostle Paul summed it up this way: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law” (Romans 13:10).
On the night before He died, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in an act of love and service. Then the Lord spoke of love and a new law, telling His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). The law of Christian love is a law of self-sacrifice, the giving of self in service to others just as Jesus gave Himself for us. According to this law of Christian love we seek to serve others and, in doing so, carry out our Heavenly Father’s will “as angels do above.” It is a law of love expressed in the fellowship we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Such love in our lives is a reflection of the love and grace of our Heavenly Father, who loved the world and sent His Son to be our Savior. As we follow the law of Christian love, we seek to walk in the way of love that Jesus walked as, obedient to His Father’s will, He sacrificed His own life to save us. The Holy Spirit unites our hearts in Christ Jesus and leads us to live within a fellowship of love. The Spirit gives us the courage to trust in our loving God, to live according to His law of love and finally, secure in His eternal love “in joyful hope to die.”
WE PRAY: Lord Jesus, help me to live according to Your law of love. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler. It is based on the hymn, “May We Thy Precepts, Lord, Fulfill,” which is number 698 in the Lutheran Service Book.
Reflection Questions:
- Who in your life is a great example of a person who loves?
- How is Jesus’ commandment to love one another a new one?
- When loving others is difficult for you, how does Jesus’ example inspire you to do better?
Today's Readings:
Amos 1-3Acts 15:22-41