For God so loved…..that he gave…….and is still giving.
”My hand is open, I have been moved by love from the very beginning. Everything I have done is motivated by my bottomless love – which I express in a multitude of ways, from my creation to relationships and every need you have. In return? I long for you to love Me – to fall completely in love with Me so that will motivate every part of your life, from interaction with Me to the same for others. I have made the way, shown it, and now empower you and every reader of this blog to do the same.
We continue to look at the way our response to God’s love in giving ourselves to love and serve Him, (Rom 12:1,2, plays out in our lives and the life of the Church. We start with the understanding that we cannot live this life without our minds being totally transformed. Last time we looked at how Paul was indicating this should manifest in the church. Today we start looking at the wider picture, not only the church but our interaction with the world. Please read Romans 12:9-13.
We will just focus on this first paragraph. Paul first picks up the concept of love. He will come back to it later in more detail. Let us remind ourselves of Jesus’ words in Mark 12:29 ff after being asked what is the most important command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength….Love your neighbour as yourself. This command to love actually summarises the whole Torah.
We should realise that the “love” word used here is unique to the Christian faith – “agape” which describes an attitude which goes way beyond our feelings and is expressed in our dealings and actions. It speaks of a self sacrificing attitude where we regard others and their needs as greater than ours.
In our passage today Paul contrasts love with evil as the opposite. Challenging the reader to be sincere and a priority in our interaction with other believers, starting off by demonstrating this by honouring others above ourselves. These are easy words to say or read but, we all know that they can be challenging when we deal with specific individuals, where we will need the transformation and power provided by the Holy Spirit to do it.
He then pours out a staccato of instructions, which each need to be prayerfully considered, as they contribute to the functioning of a healthy church. I will leave you all to do just that personally as they are self-explanatory, but very important in building a healthy, transformed life in a real church . As you read each instruction ask God to show you how you are doing with that one and asking Him to help you where you need it and maybe improve on it in your specific circumstances. Try imagining how it should manifest itself in your life.
Next week we will. Look on the other instructions of Paul. May God bless you all.