Romans 12:9-10 Love: True or False?
Romans 12:9-10 "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."
Reading this passage, I was struck by a sudden thought. For you, perhaps, this is nothing new, but for me? Well, I can truly say that it floored me. This thought was “If Paul is writing to this church, exhorting them and encouraging them to have a genuine love, that means that good, strong, solid believers in that church had an ingenuine or a false love.” This astonished me. Paul was writing to the fine, upstanding citizens of the First Christian Church of Rome, a body of believers whose relationship with Christ he was deeply concerned about. He tells them that they can have a false love that here on Earth, to physical and fleshly eyes is indistinguishable from a genuine true love. This led me to think about what false love is, and here is what I came up with. False love is based off of something of this world. False loved is founded on “I have to do this” or “I am supposed to do this” rather than being an outflowing or overflowing from our personal relationship with Jesus and the joy He has given us.
Look at what Paul writes next “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” To me, this is Paul clarifying what false love is. It is first of all evil and sinful. Secondly it comes from sinful, fleshly, and worldly desires. It is coming from external pressures such as trying to show how “Christian” you are to the believers around you. It comes from a desire for reciprocation, for perhaps even wanting the glory and the honor for yourself in being “such a great Christian and example.” This is wrong! We need to flee, to turn and run from anything like this. We need to see that anything that is not coming from a deep internal desire to love and honor God is coming from a deep internal desire to love and honor our self.
Paul reminds us that we must love each other with a brotherly love. Why? Because they are our siblings, not because we want or chose to love them, but because they are our siblings. Just like you can not choose your parents or your physical brothers and sisters, you can not choose your spiritual brothers and sisters. We are to love them unconditionally because of who they are and not what they are or what they mean to us. Just because I do not get along with my siblings all the time does not mean that I don't love them all the time. Our internal love for each other comes from the fact that by nature and birth we share the same parents. Likewise our internal love for other believers must stem from the very fact that they too are children and beloved of our Lord Almighty. They are beloved of our beloved, and thus we can show our thanks and honor for Jesus in how we honor and treat each other.
Let our love for each other and for the lost be genuine, let it be sourced from our deep love of God, flowing as it should, from Him to each other. Let us remove the pride that holds us back from honoring each other – if Jesus could get on His hands and knees to wash the nasty, smelly, dirty feet of His disciples and followers, can we not do the same or even more? We should aim to look just as foolish and be just as unselfconscious as He in our showing of love and honor for each other!
Reading this passage, I was struck by a sudden thought. For you, perhaps, this is nothing new, but for me? Well, I can truly say that it floored me. This thought was “If Paul is writing to this church, exhorting them and encouraging them to have a genuine love, that means that good, strong, solid believers in that church had an ingenuine or a false love.” This astonished me. Paul was writing to the fine, upstanding citizens of the First Christian Church of Rome, a body of believers whose relationship with Christ he was deeply concerned about. He tells them that they can have a false love that here on Earth, to physical and fleshly eyes is indistinguishable from a genuine true love. This led me to think about what false love is, and here is what I came up with. False love is based off of something of this world. False loved is founded on “I have to do this” or “I am supposed to do this” rather than being an outflowing or overflowing from our personal relationship with Jesus and the joy He has given us.
Look at what Paul writes next “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” To me, this is Paul clarifying what false love is. It is first of all evil and sinful. Secondly it comes from sinful, fleshly, and worldly desires. It is coming from external pressures such as trying to show how “Christian” you are to the believers around you. It comes from a desire for reciprocation, for perhaps even wanting the glory and the honor for yourself in being “such a great Christian and example.” This is wrong! We need to flee, to turn and run from anything like this. We need to see that anything that is not coming from a deep internal desire to love and honor God is coming from a deep internal desire to love and honor our self.
Paul reminds us that we must love each other with a brotherly love. Why? Because they are our siblings, not because we want or chose to love them, but because they are our siblings. Just like you can not choose your parents or your physical brothers and sisters, you can not choose your spiritual brothers and sisters. We are to love them unconditionally because of who they are and not what they are or what they mean to us. Just because I do not get along with my siblings all the time does not mean that I don't love them all the time. Our internal love for each other comes from the fact that by nature and birth we share the same parents. Likewise our internal love for other believers must stem from the very fact that they too are children and beloved of our Lord Almighty. They are beloved of our beloved, and thus we can show our thanks and honor for Jesus in how we honor and treat each other.
Let our love for each other and for the lost be genuine, let it be sourced from our deep love of God, flowing as it should, from Him to each other. Let us remove the pride that holds us back from honoring each other – if Jesus could get on His hands and knees to wash the nasty, smelly, dirty feet of His disciples and followers, can we not do the same or even more? We should aim to look just as foolish and be just as unselfconscious as He in our showing of love and honor for each other!
Brother, let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant, too
We are pilgrims on a journey
We are brothers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant, too
We are pilgrims on a journey
We are brothers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load
posted by Another Saved Soul at 6:33 PM
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