“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;…

With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation” (Psalm 91:14, 16).

Just hours before my mom passed into the presence of her Savior, I read Psalm 91 to her. That has long been one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, but it seemed fresh to me as I read it aloud that morning and pondered what it meant to set our love upon Christ. I believe it’s important to consider that statement, as the following promises within that chapter are dependent upon our fulfilling that particular condition.

To say we love the Lord is no light statement. When we love others, we usually want to spend time with them. We honor them with our words and our actions. We tell other people about them. We consider their desires and feelings when making choices in our own lives.

I’ve been contemplating those aspects of love quite a bit since that day at my mother’s bedside. Nothing brings our focus to the eternal more than someone’s passing from this earth, does it? And well it should. For one day we will each walk through that “valley of the shadow of death.” Will we confidently be able to say at that moment that we have set our love upon Him? Today is the day to make that choice. Loving Him will enable us to love others as ourselves—and that, as Jesus reminded us, is the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets.