Tuesday Reading: Romans 12:9-13
Key Verse: Romans 12:9
9 Let love be without hypocrisy, shrinking from evil, cleaving to good;
Devotion:
There are going to be times when you think to yourself “how can I put up with them?” or “do I have to put up with them any longer?” and it is during those sorts of times that we have to cling to God’s Word for guidance and for practical advice. Our emotions will probably get the better of us and we may well launch off into something that we will later regret unless we are able to take a step back, grasp God’s Word in both hands and depend on it – not just take out of it what we want, not just interpret from it what we need but to take it wholly and apply it wholly in our lives. Not as easy as it sounds…
Love should not just be something that we have for those few special people in our lives because Christ has shown us that love is something to share with everyone. He taught us while He was here on earth that we need to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. He taught us that we need to love our enemies… So what is this love that he is teaching us? That love is honest and pure and truthful Christian love.
How would you define Christian love? Would you try to put labels or restraints on it to make sure that you would not have to love your enemies? Would you limit it to the Christians that you know so that you would not have to serve anyone else? Well, when we turn back to God’s Word it is always clearly given to us what we should be doing – putting that into practise is another thing, something that we should be aiming for in our lives.
Christian love should be without hypocrisy; don’t say one thing and do another thing. We have to live up to what we say it is and not just talk about it as if it was something to attain when we are good enough. Christian love mean turning your back on those things that we know are not right so that we can uphold righteousness; not giving in to things and saying that we are working towards getting it right. Yes we do have to start somewhere and that is often out in the sticks amongst all manner of strange things, but that does not mean that we have to go with evil in order to bring good. We should be bringing good in amongst the evil so that we can show what is good; sticking to that good to show up the evil. That means depending on God to give us strength to face up to the challenge that He wants us to accomplish and not the things that we think we can manage. Having faith and stepping forward in Christian love is a big step to take, one that must start with you.
Points to Ponder:
What are you willing to do for love?
Have you remembered what Christ has already done because of His love?