In my Bible study time, I’ve been looking at the various passages of Scripture that talk about putting on or putting off things.  The gist of these verses is that we are to put off the old ways, the sinful ways, and the ways of the flesh and put on the new man, the one who longs to be like Christ.  It’s been an insightful study, and I’ve learned much.

As I closed out my study yesterday, I read Colossians 3:14, which reads, And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  The verses preceding this one give a long list of things to put on, including mercy, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forgiveness, etc. But then verse 14 comes in and states that above all these things, we should put on charity (or love, as we know it today), which is the thing that completes us.

Of course, I couldn’t fully grasp what it means to put on charity without going to “the love chapter,” I Corinthians 13, and what I discovered there blew my mind.  As I read through the familiar account of what true love is and what it does, I noticed how many of the attributes of love lined up with the different things we’re supposed to put on.  They were all there!  It was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.  Instead of having this long laundry list of things to put on, it really all boiled down to one thing—put on love.  If we love as we should, we will be kind, humble, meek, unselfish, patient, and all those things the Bible commands us to wear.  Suddenly, in my mind, I was no longer putting on several different garments but one made up of several other materials, which seemed much more manageable.

As I meditated on this, the Lord brought to mind another instance where it all boils down to love.  In the Bible, you’ll find a host of commandments.  There are the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai, but others are also sprinkled throughout the Scripture.  It’s daunting to remember them all and be sure I’m doing all the right things.  But God didn’t intend for it to be that way, so to make it simple for us, He boiled it all down to two.  Two rules to live by.  If we follow them, we’ll stay on the right track.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. - Mark 12:28-31

Love the Lord with all your heart.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  That’s it!  If we love the Lord as we should, we will honor His name, worship Him alone, and keep His day holy.  If we love others as ourselves, we won’t steal, kill, commit adultery, lie, or act selfishly.  It all boils down to love.  If we love right, we’ll live right.

I don’t know about you, but my to-do list is so long it has chapters and subheadings.  I don’t have the time and energy to keep track of every commandment and each garment I’m supposed to put on.  It’s too much and causes me to feel overwhelmed.  But now that I see the connection between all these things and love, I feel much more at ease.  I don’t have to juggle lists and rules and “garments.” I just need to practice loving the way God loves.  That’s not to say it’s an easy task, but it seems much less intimidating.  Whew!  What a relief!