Lesson 13: Purchases Pleasure in Obedience
“Love is the fulfilling of the Law” Romans 13:10.

Man's nature is such that, in addition to perfection, it demands pleasure. How that demand is met in the Will of God may be declared like this: God's Will is perfect, because He is love, and only Love can, and Love can only make laws for man which will provide him with perfect pleasure.

That is a double proposition. Let us consider it.

Only love can make laws for man which will provide him with perfect pleasure. Disinterestedness lies at the heart of all pure love. "Love does not insist on its own way." It is almost impossible to discuss the true nature of love from the midst of the limitations of human life as we know it. It is so easy to judge love by the partial realization of it that has come within our consciousness. We love those who love us, those who please us, those who like us; and at the root of all this, in the last analysis, there is but a refined form of selfishness.

The Divine fact of love is infinitely greater than these human imitations. Occasionally it seems to take possession of a human heart and is then the subject of wonder to all men. Love, however, must always be judged from its essential being and manifestation in the character of God. There it is wholly unselfish, and consists of perfect affection for an object, without ulterior motive. There only is Shakespeare's description of it fully realized.

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken."


When love becomes the motive of law, then law conditions the true happiness of the one who is loved. To do this, love is never blind, but takes the largest possible outlook, and acts in its government not only for the present moment, but for all the issues of that moment; not only for the final issues but also for all the present moments that contribute to its making. No other motive for law is equal to meeting the demand for pleasure. Righteousness, apart from its relation to love, may do many cruel things. The doctrine of the survival of the fittest, in its higher aspect, is a protest against un-rightness; but it has within itself no remedy for failure, and ruthlessly sweeps away all the weak and fallen. The majesty and dignity of kingship will not ensure the pleasure of the subject in all cases. Law growing from selfishness will, in the nature of things, only bring happiness to those who minister to the self-seeking tendency of the law-giver. No law that my fellow man can make for me is perfectly to be trusted to ensure my pleasure, because I am never certain of the hidden and yet powerful motive that may give birth to that law. Love only can condition the life of the subject in perfect happiness.

Question: What happens when love is the motive of Law?
Let’s pray: Lord, thank You for Your love. Help us to submit our lives to You so You can lead us into Your perfect Will! It is only You that can lead us in such a way that honors You! Thank You for Your personal interest in our lives. We pray in the name of Jesus.. Amen