Romans 12:11-12 Love that is Dangerous

Romans 12:11-12 “Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying.” (CEV)

This past week, I found myself in a conversation with a younger friend of mine. As she was talking about the end of a serious relationship she was just involved in, she made the following comment, “Now that I have experienced love, I would rather not go through anything like that again. I would much rather have less dangerous love.” Hurt, confused, and regretful, she decided to choose what seemed a safer path in life for her.

Last week I wrote about the possibility of false love, and how easy it is for us to find ourselves in a state of false love. Paul continues to teach us about love. No, no, I am not going to start in on 1 Corinthians 13, but I do think that everyone should be familiar with that passage and how it describes love. No, Paul continues to write here about love, true and dangerous.

To understand this idea of a dangerous love, I must point out the very first sentence in our topic verses. I love the way the CEV puts it “Never give up.” The ESV's verse 11 reads “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” It is possible, very possible to give up, to be exhausted and tired and to become slothful or “lagging in diligence” as the NASB puts it. A genuine love can flag, and become tired. A genuine love however will try and continue despite the dangers, the troubles, and the lack of hope we sometimes face.

How then can we continue when problems face us? How do we press forward and show a true, genuine love with all the problems, all the wearying, exhausting, tiring problems and troubles that oppose us in our daily walk with our Lord? The answer again is given to us in this verse, “follow the Holy Spirit and Serve the Lord.” That is much easier said than done, but just the attempt to do so seems to make every mile we walk go by that much faster. When we merely try, despite our flagging hearts, to serve our Saviour we soon find that we are eagerly pressing onwards in service and we have hope that makes us glad! Sloughing through the danger, we find increased patience and a most definite increase in our prayers!

People with a genuine love finds themselves turning to the source of the joy, the source of diligence, the source of patience, and the source of the very love that is being shown and practiced. In fact they always seem to find themselves in prayer before the Lord. Prayer puts us in the presence of God and that in itself should encourage us no matter what we face before us!

This week, let us pray that we can show His love in a genuine way, despite the dangers ahead of us. This week, let us remind ourselves that He has already paid the price of Love so we can freely share it!

Lord, help me live from day to day in such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray my prayer shall be for others.
Others, Lord, yes others, let this my motto be,
Help me to live for others,that I may live like Thee.