Tag Archives: genuine love

Genuine Love

Eastertide

May 29, 2020

Scripture Reading:

Romans 12:9-16b
Let Love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.

Let love be genuine. It is funny what we remember from the books we read. I have no idea how many years ago I read C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves, but ever since that reading, I have carried the wisdom he shared about loving people we discern as unlovable. He described a woman, his neighbor, who, by all experiences, was not a pleasant person to be around. He worked at avoiding her, if possible.  As he dug deeper into the life of Christ, he became more and more uncomfortable with his response to this woman. He finally decided he could not love her but would treat her like he did. So, he stopped avoiding her, chatted with across the path, and ignored her more offensive actions. One day, after a brief discussion, as Lewis walked away, he realized that he had learned to love her.

As I listened to the news this morning about another black man who had been killed by a policeman, I heard words something to the effect that black people cannot tell white people how to fix themselves regarding ending racism.  I recalled Martin Luther King’s words in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. He concluded that the Negro’s  great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted  to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice;

What struck me most as I read the scripture above was the words of action Let Love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Like C. S. Lewis we each need to examine how we are slowing the progress of creating a world ruled by love and actively change our hands-off or negative ways of being to letting our love be genuine in all that we do while we do all that we can.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for our going along to get along and help us to see how we can learn to genuinely love one another. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Intentionality

IntentionalLiving in the Spirit
August 28, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 12:9-21 

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. —Romans 12:9-13 

I have always had a pretty good memory but as I age I am relying more and more on lists and digital calendar reminders. I have found over the years that there are times, for example, when I get very busy or when I am distracted from what I must do by something not related to what I must do that I tend to run on what I dub “automatic pilot.” I must lean back on God and let God establish my priorities getting me through the musts, probably ignoring some of the “shoulds” of life.

We must be well prepared to rely on “automatic pilot” and Paul’s to do list of everyday stuff is a great place to start. Think how much simpler life would be if we could make each item, in this laundry list of behavior, a habit. They say it takes six weeks to form a habit. Trying to make all of these behaviors habits in six weeks would be a daunting task. But if we took one at a time, worked on one with intentionality for six weeks and then moved to the next, I think we would be surprised at how our life and, more importantly, our service to God would blossom.

First we would have to “chew” on each for a while. What is genuine love? How do we know when it is happening? What does the word hate really mean? Next we must practice what we have discerned. Third we need to be at least accountable to ourselves and to God.

It strikes me as I review this list that the tasks get easier as they go. For once we learn to love in a genuine way and to hate evil it will be easier to hold fast to good. Once we have shed the weight of not loving genuinely and of being ho hum about evil, we will have more energy for zeal and an ardent spirit.

Prayer: Lord, foster in me the intentionality I need to live in harmony with your will. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.