Love fulfills the Law.

 Love Fulfills the Law

The law was like a mirror, showing every stain,

A perfect,holy standard, where my own strength proved vain.

It measured out the boundaries,“You shall” and “You shall not,”

A tutor to reveal the depth of my profound need of God.

But then came Love incarnate, with eyes of gentle flame,

Who did not come to break it,but to fulfill it in His name.

He lived its true intention down to the smallest part,

And wrote its living spirit on the tablet of His heart.

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)

For all the law and prophets on two great commands depend:

To love the Lord your God with heart and soul,without end,

And love your neighbor as yourself—on this,all teachings hinge.

In this,the complex code finds its completing, single cringe.

No longer just “Don’t murder,” but “Don’t harbor hateful thought.”

No longer just“Don’t steal,” but “Give from what your hand has wrought.”

For if I truly love you,I will seek for you the best;

In loving,every “shall not” finds its “shall” and finds its rest.

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)

So let me live in this Love, who first so loved me.

Let every action,motive, and word from this root be.

Not under law’s stern letter,but under grace’s reign,

Where Love Himself fulfills in me what I could not attain.

For Love is the fulfillment.

Love is the higher way.

In Christ, the Law of Love is my eternal day.

Amen.