A person who consistently does what he thinks is right without thought of God or his Word loves little. His love is mostly focused on himself and only those he wants to love. However, Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount that love needs to be our way of life. Jesus said things like love your enemies, reconcile grievances with other people quickly and do not call anybody a fool. A person doing those things shows how much he loves God and other people.

As the story continues in the last chapters of Judges, chaos continues to reign. The people are still doing what they think they should do. A Levite’s concubine is abused by some perverted men in a town in the land of Benjamin. As a result of this abuse, she dies. This death is the cause of a huge civil war between Benjamin and the rest of Israel. Many Israelites died. The tribe of Benjamin was nearly destroyed. All of this because they did what was right in their own eyes.

When we love others through the power of the Holy Spirit, the chaos ends. We put others before ourselves, and we put God above all things. The power of the Holy Spirit resides in every believer. It is when we ignore his presence and power that we fall into the trap of doing what is right according to us. May we follow his ways according to his Word and love each other more and more.

Brad Rushing

Extended Scripture: Judges 20–21