“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
I’m going to switch things up for this blog. I want to start out with a question. What do you want to be remembered for? Really, ask yourself what do you , (insert name here), want to be remembered for? Do you want to be remembered for your love for the Falcons? Do you want to be remembered for always being down for a late night cook-out run? Do you want to be remembered for you intellectual knowledge of American history? Or do you want to be remembered for the way you love?
I think all of those things are great. I love cook-out. I cheered on the Falcons (too soon?) and I’m all about learning more history. But that’s not my identity. And it’s not yours either. In Romans 12:9-13 Paul introduces to us Love—not the feeling, but the action. He talks about what Christ-like love looks like and how do we practically love like He does.
Table of Contents
genuine love
We are to love genuinely. Love isn’t meant to be fake or to be made up. Love must be sincere. We can sincerely love others by clinging to what is good, honoring one another, serving God, and being faithful in prayer. These are all things Paul tells us we can do—today. It doesn’t matter where you are spiritually or how old you are or what your past has looked like. We all have the ability to love like He does.
I loved reading this passage because it has no exceptions. No one is disqualified of our love. Just like we aren’t the exception of His love. So even that teacher who gave you a C- on your history paper and you deserved a solid B+— you still are instructed to love them. Even when your mom is being “naggy” with you— you still are instructed to love her. And even when your roommate doesn’t clean the dishes you are still instructed to love them. Paul never said it would be easy all the time, but we are instructed to live a lifestyle of love and we can get the perfect illustration of that by seeing how Jesus loved.
pray
God, thank You for the way that You love each of us. Thank You that You show us the perfect illustration of love. Would You increase our desire to love others. That that would be the thing that we would want to be remembered for.
