Love in Action. Romans 12:9-16 Listening through the word of God to the specific practices of the use of God-given gifts, made me seriously reflect on what I do in the house of God, for the people of God. Am I really using what God has given me by His grace? Do I carry out the reason for these gifts by faith - true active faith? Is the Spirit of God free to use these gifts through me, or do I resist His leading? After thoughtful consideration of the ministry of the gifts that are used in specific ways, the challenge is presented as to the motivation to practice these in general terms.
It is possible to pretend to love and practice all the actions of living as a Christian, without being genuine and sincere. Sincere good will goes way beyond being polite. It involves wanting the best for others in spite of the cost I might have to pay to honor them. Abhorring evil and malice, is really one of the most visible ways my true Christianity is seen. Being glued to what is good contrasts malice with benevolence which is the practice of love. V.9. A living sacrifice loves others. Love is not a mere emotion, when we love sincerely and sacrificially. We are to love God, love His people and love the lost souls who may persecute us because of our faith. Loving God is evidence of being a child of God. Loving one another is evidence of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Loving enemies is evidence of the reality of our profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. Love to God is expressed by devotion to Him. Love to believers is demonstrated by selfless interest in them. Love to enemies is shown by deeds of kindness.
V.10. Love reveals itself when there is true affection such as is seen in the relationship between parents and children in a family. There is a focus in this paragraph on loving Christians. Family love and brotherly love are words used here showing how we are to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. Honoring others keeps us from being self-centered without compromising self-respect.
Expressions and acts of unsolicited kindness that bring honor to brothers and sisters in Christ and benefit to all, is evidence that the genuine love of God is in us. Honor, fervency, hope, intercession, and compassion are involved in love. Sharing, giving, blessing and enduring are also evidence of love in action. Love in reality is different then pretense or flattering compliments. To prefer our brothers and sisters and see them going forward, even ahead of us, is true Christian love.
V.11. The Lord is the focus here because loving others and serving them is how we demonstrate our love and service for God. Zeal in spiritual matters will involve the use of my time and energy in seeking to serve the Lord. There will be a burning desire to fulfill my responsibilities and accomplish something that is lasting for the glory of God. Spiritual fervor is not foolish excitement, but is the “boiling over” work of the Holy Spirit in the heart and life of one who is faithful to the Lord.
This is a cause for joy as we, in sure hope, look for the Lord to come. We will be able to go through the pressures and problems that come in our service for the Lord, with an on-going urgency in our prayers to God that keeps us in a fellowship with Him.
V.12. When a Christian is in times of trial and tribulation, they should deliberately place their hope in God as an act of their will. Faithfulness in prayer is when we are in close communion with our heavenly Father who knows what is happening and cares for us. Love for God is easily seen when we are passing through deep waters and are still rejoicing in hope.
V.13. Another way we practice love is to share what we have with others of the Lord’s people who have needs they cannot meet. They may not speak of them, but by putting ourselves in their “shoes” we can determine what they might need and how we can help them. Another way to help them and show our love as God intends, is to make it a point to practice hospitality. Opening up what we have for their use, benefit and spiritual health is evidence of love in the sense of caring for their well-being.
The needs of others may escape our attention if we do not make a point of asking about the well-being of our brothers and sisters with a genuine sense of love for them. It is not hard to discern insincere questions that have only the sense of politeness about them. The practice of love is a general principle when it relates to meeting the needs of others. People deserve their privacy and we should not advertise our giving nor our pursuit of showing hospitality. This is not just a casual occasional act of showing hospitality, but is something that we actually go after - even to strangers who may be angels.
V.14. Love avoids evil and promotes good. It requires time and effort and personal involvement that is sacrificial and sincere. It is hard to bless those who oppose you and what you seek to do. They may even go out of their way to speak against you or promote some malicious evil. Loving unbelievers would have been a very significant challenge to the early believers in Rome who were being persecuted to death. Religious Jews also were openly hostile to Christians. The challenge to bless those who persecuted them went way beyond what was normal behavior.
When the Lord Jesus was here, He exemplified the attitude of love for those who persecuted Him, by loving them and teaching those who followed Him that loving enemies is God’s way of dealing with them. The power of love has a far greater effect and impact on opposition that an act of retaliation. It appears the best thing we can bless them with is the Gospel. Our words and actions when spoken in love and grace, can be hard to overlook. We may be privileged in a small way to experience what our Lord did who "when He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not." Even though there may be a reason for retaliation, do not do it.
V.15. By weeping with mourners and rejoicing with the successful, we convey love from our hearts. Neither one is easy to act upon by nature. Love shown by tears of genuine compassion for those who suffer, is really a normal reaction in one way because we have experience losses ourselves and know what that is like. It may be harder to rejoice with another person than to weep with them. When I hear of God's blessing on another person's labor and mine seems fruitless, it may be hard to truly rejoice with them. We can fake it, but that is not acceptable to God who knows our heart and we will feel guilty for being insincere.
When another has recovered from a sickness and I have to live with mine daily, it may be hard to rejoice with them. If another is honored in a work that I might have done or shared in, and I am overlooked, I need to deliberately make a choice to rejoice with real pleasure over the blessings that person receives. Some trials and afflictions others go through, need me to stay connected with them because perhaps I can help them get through the testing time. Silent companionship may be the best comfort I can give to a weeping saint who has suffered a great loss.
V.16. Cultivating harmony takes time and effort. Harmony and humility go together in contrast to pride and conceit that are also linked. The first couplet leads to unity and the second leads to division. The way to deal with pride and deceit is to make a point of associating with people who are less fortunate than we are. The Lord Jesus was known to be a friend of publicans and sinners. He fed the hungry and blessed the sick and afflicted. He welcomed children and lost souls.
To be united in mind is a purposeful act as we practice love to people in need or who are of different station in life. To be patronizing is offensive to others. I need to deliberately avoid the temptation of comparing myself to others or being carried away by those who think they are of a higher class. Self-conceited people are strangers to the practice of love.
Love expresses itself in ways we choose to act upon when we concentrate our thoughts on the needs and events happening to people around us. Love is not merely an outward action, but an action that expresses an inward attitude. Love gives without expecting anything in return. It honors without any ulterior motives. It gladly contributes to meeting obvious needs without any sense of competition with others. It has power that goes far beyond our expectations because God’s love is being demonstrated through a believer’s reflection of God Himself. “God is Love!”