Instructions For Daily Living Roms 12:9
Vs. 9 "Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good."
Three instructions: 1. Let love be sincere (without hypocrisy). Christian love needs to be genuine. We love people because "the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts." Roms 5:5 We are to love like God loves. God loves us unconditionally. 6:37 (He that comes to me I will not cast out) God loves us eternally. Jer 31:3 (He loves us with an everlasting love) God’s love is sacrificial. Jn 15:13 (greater love has no man that this than to lay down his life for his friend) God’s love is patient. Ps 145:8 "The LORD is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy" The Bible describes love as this: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." I Cor 13:4-7 2. Abhor what is evil we need to utterly detest evil. Paul makes a play on words here, he tells them to love genuinely, but in the same breath he tells them to hate what is evil. I think it is important to note that Paul told them to hate what was evil not to hate who were evil. We love people but we hate what they do. When it comes to sin and evil Christians need to: 1. Be disgusted with it. 2. Need to avoid it as much as possible. 3. Need to be a positive influence in the world for righteousness. Modern day American Christians have become 1. Complacent about evil. 2. Accepting of evil. 3. Not bothered by evil. 3. Cling to what is good. The word "cling" means to glue or to stick to. We are to stick to what is good. The American Dictionary describes good as "being positive or desirable in nature. Not bad or poor. Some examples of sticking to what is good may be: 1. Doing the right thing. (The world says: do what you got to do) 2. Standing up for the oppressed. (The world says mind your own business) 3. Helping someone in need. (The world says help yourself) Phil 4:8 true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtuous, praiseworthy think on these things. |
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