Love as a Way of Life

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13

We’ve seen our Lord’s instructions through Paul about the workings of the spiritual gifts within the Church. Now we have instructions about how to conduct our daily lives in all situations.

The quoted text is from the New International Version. For the first phrase of verse 9, I prefer the New American Standard, which states it: “Love without hypocrisy.” Somehow it just seems more to the point. “Sincere” is a perfectly fine and meaningful word, but somehow seems to imply a saccharin, pseudo-sweetness. It must be because of my basic aversion to pious pomposity and phony shows of affection. It is an overused term in describing someone who is teaching false doctrine, but is loveable and “so sincere.” Better yet, why not “love must be REAL.” Real love is not loving for show, or for advantage, or because of indebtedness. Real love is not trying to flatter or impress. Real love comes from within the soul of the believer who is spirit-filled and overflowing with God’s grace toward fellow believers. Real love flows from the giver and is unconditional, like God’s love for us. Matter-of-fact. Benevolent. Consistent. Not necessarily “touchy-feely.”

We express our relationship to Christ by our abhorrence of evil, our loving attentiveness to one another, our zeal for the Lord, our joy, patience, faithfulness, prayer and generosity. These things are not difficult for the spirit-filled believer to practice. But from there it gets a little harder to comprehend:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Romans 12:14-16

Bless those who persecute us? Don’t curse those who make our lives more difficult? That’s the command. Now, that takes real grace. One must have strength of character to handle that. Some folks are rejoicing, some are mourning. Sensitivity to the life situations of others enables us to share their moments of victory or sorrow. We must not base our friendships on anyone’s socio-economic status. Jesus never excluded anyone who wanted to be his friend.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21 

Here it is again: don’t retaliate. God knows all things. He knows what is happening to us and who is doing it. God will recompense those who persecute His own. Knowing this, and depending on the care of our Good Shepherd, our response to persecution should be: if our enemy is in need, feed him, give him drink, and wait for the Lord to deal with the evil one. The Lord will do a much more thorough job of avenging His children than we can ever do. We don’t have to see it being done, but we can relax in the certain knowledge that it will happen.

What can your enemy look forward to, who is harassing you unmercifully? Burning coals.

Personal retaliation involves YOU in the evil of your tormenter. That makes you of the same mentality as the evil one and will bring you under discipline from God. Responding in a Christlike manner keeps you in fellowship with God and will, through God’s direct intervention, overcome the evil.

Brethren, let’s just be on our best behavior toward the enemies of our faith, honoring the One we represent, and remember those burning coals.