A POPULAR PASSAGE in Deuteronomy chapter 28 talks about the blessings that belong to God’s people. It says we will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field, and the fruit of our body (our children) will be blessed (vv. 3–4). We love to concentrate on verse 13 in that chapter. It says we will be the head and not the tail and that we’ll be above and not beneath.
While all that is true, sometimes we don’t read the rest of verse 13. That passage gives the condition on which these blessings are based. We will enjoy them . . .
DEUTERONOMY 28:13 (AMPC)
28 . . . if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day and are watchful to do them.
If you sometimes wonder why your confessions of faith are not becoming realities, ask yourself, “Am I heeding the commandments of the Lord?”
What has God told us to do? The Bible contains many commandments He wants us to follow. We are to search the scriptures, find them, and obey them. But of all the commandments in the Bible, I want to focus on one—the commandment to walk in love.
When we place God First in our lives, every hostility will evaporate, and the love of God will permeate our lives like a new fragrance.
MATTHEW 22:37–40 (NLT)
37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
In verse 39 Jesus is talking about the commandment to walk in love. He isn’t referring to loving others just in words and thoughts, but with consistent actions and deeds.
Acts of kindness are one of the strongest voices in the love walk. I believe we have only scratched the surface of the love commandment. If we consistently operate in it, we won’t need to be concerned with the other commandments. They will become second nature to us.
What is supposed to come out of us when we practice the love walk? A new fragrance!
EPHESIANS 5:2 (AMPC)
2 And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.
I got excited when I found this out because I thought, “When we walk in love, we are supposed to smell like a brand-new bottle of cologne!” Some women carry perfume or cologne in their purse. I believe God wants to give us a new perfume—the fragrance of walking in love!
The cares of life can bring us so far down in our love walk that if any fragrance is left in us, it smells like cheap perfume.
The act of walking in love is very important. If we want to live a life of faith, we must remember that faith works by love (Gal. 5:6). And walking in love is an essential part of relationships.
If we don’t walk in love, what is the alternative? Life is too short to live in selfishness and turmoil. Scripture tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33). The fact is that when we place God first, every hostility will evaporate, and the love of God will permeate our lives like a new fragrance.
Can people around you “smell” the fragrance of God’s love flowing through you? You may be thinking, “That’s not my personality type.” You may not be a person who shows love easily. But if you are born again, the love of God has been “shed abroad” in your heart, for God is love (Rom. 5:5; 1 John 4:16).
When you seek the Lord and yield to His love in you, that love has to come forth. Then, no matter what’s going on around you, love will come out of your heart and mouth. And when you walk in love, peace will surround you. You will experience joy like you’ve never known it before, and hatred and bitterness will dissolve away. Your entire life will have a wonderful fragrance—the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Love as God Sees It
Read, meditate, and act on the following scriptures every day. The more you act on these verses, the more your life will be a sweet fragrance to the Lord.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:4–8 (NLT)
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 . . .Love will last forever!
Author
Lynette Hagin
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