based on the LGG Study, Set Apart, living a life for God’s glory / w2d2
Scripture Reading: Romans 12:9-21 / SOAP verses 9 and 10
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Romans 12:9-10 NLT
I love the New Living Translation of this passage. It was a conviction of my heart many years ago when I began using the NLT translation as my study Bible. I had heard the verse many times before in various other translations – but I never “heard or understood” it so clearly as when I read the words, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.” You see, to some degree I prided myself on being able to get along with people, to love everyone – even my ‘enemies’ or those who had offended or hurt me. However, when I read “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them” I was hit with the hard internal question of ‘whoa! Do I really love these people or have I just become good at dealing with them, giving the pretense of loving them?”
But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44
How do you love the husband that walks out on you and your children after 26 years of marriage without a word? How do you love those who have persecuted you or lied to you or mistreated you or maligned your testimony, or those who have hurt your family? The answer to all of these came from the words of Christ echoing through my mind – “But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.” One thing I have learned from experience – you don’t do it in your own strength, it is only possible in and through the power of God. For me the first step was remembering that God loved me even when I was His enemy, when I turned away from Him He pursued me, and He has forgiven me and loved me without fail. His mercies are truly “new every morning.” If I’m still struggling to love – the Spirit is faithful to remind me (John 14:26) of Jesus’ command to “love others as He has loved us” – and how He loved us even unto death on the cross. It is God – His grace towards me and His love in me, that truly helps me to genuinely love “others”.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. … but I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
John 15:5 and Philippians 4:13
This is definitely one of those passages that gives validity to the saying that “being a Christian isn’t for sissies.” Following Christ takes work, as Jesus told a crowd that gathered around Him one day – it means “turning from selfish ways, taking up our cross daily, and following Him.” It means, as I have learned through the years, utterly depending on and trusting in Him in all of life and knowing that He alone has given us everything we need for the ‘godly life’ He has called us to. Which is why we find it written, “without Him we can do nothing … but through Him we can do all things.”
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We all know that we should love each other, but Paul’s instruction is that our love must be genuine or sincere. In other words, Christians are not called to fake an attitude of love for each other, but to find ways to express God’s love meaningfully, as an extension of God’s love for us and ours for Him.
Gotquestions.org
Reflection on Today’s Journey
How can you intentionally and genuinely demonstrate love and honor to those around you today, allowing God’s love to overflow through your actions and words? hit the comment tab to share your answer/thoughts.
You definitely were the example of loving others with genuine affection when he left us. I still think back to that time often when it’s hard to love someone because of how they may have treated me. My defenses go up, but when I reflect back to this time in your life and how you were that example of how to love others I know that if you could do that in your circumstance then I can too.