500 Circles / David Jeremiah

 

500 Circles You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18   If you went through the Bible and drew a circle around every occurrence of the word love, you’d end up with more than 500 circles. It first appears in Genesis 22:2 to describe Abraham’s love for his son Isaac. You’ll have 25 circles in the book of Deuteronomy, 44 in Psalms, and 57 in John’s Gospel. One chapter in the Bible is called the Love Chapter (1 Corinthians 13), and the last reference to love in the Bible is in Revelation 22, although there the word is used in a negative sense, to condemn anyone who “loves and practices a lie” (verse 15).

Recommended Reading: 1 Corinthians 13

Love is God’s priority, and it should be ours as well. Nothing is harder than to give up a grudge, overlook an insult, or cast out a root of bitterness from our hearts. But that is God’s way and His will, and we can accomplish those things through His strength and His Spirit. Look for a way to love someone well today, maybe even someone you’ve recently failed to love very well!   When a human act does not conform to the standard of love, then it is not right, nor good, nor perfect. Thomas Aquinas