01/21/2009

Romans 12:9-21


9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. 17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore “ If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This Scripture is pretty clear. The Apostle here is telling how a believer should behave. The love we should have for each other should be sincere and not fake. We shouldn't be giving each other meaningless and deceitful compliments. This is not a real love but a mock love. We give each other words of kindness but our brothers and sisters might need something. We might have the power to give the supplies they need but we don't always do it. The main theme in this Scripture is love. It is our duty to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. When they need encouragement, give them encouragement. Of course we should love God and have a zeal for the Gospel.

Not only should we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we should love our enemies. Those people who talk about us and try to bring us down. Show them the love of Christ. Here's a hard one - bless them and do not curse them. One of my favorite Scriptures (and sometimes it is hard) is Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath." It is amazing the affect it has on people. Just love on them.

I love what it says in Verse 16 - "...Do not be wise in your own opinion." Sometimes we just think we are the "one." We think we know everything. Wrong. God is the only one who knows everything. We think our opinions are the only ones that count. Better be careful on that one. Never puff ourselves up and think we are the greatest person and only our opinion counts.

In the last Verses, it says to not avenge ourselves but leave it to God. He is the true Judge. It is pretty clear what we are told to do here. If our enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him a drink. Just because we might be treated badly by someone does not gives us a right to do something bad back to them. Overcome evil with good. Good wins every time. God is the true victor. Love and obedience. So let's do it! Read all of Chapter 12. It is so good! It teaches us so much. Paul tells us how to preach, teach, love, live and there are so many other lessons we can learn from Chapter 12. Read the Word!