EXHORTATIONS (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Love must be sincere.

Romans 12:9a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Today, we start an eleven part series formed from the 13 verses of Romans, chapter 12. There we find Paul sending exhortations to the people of Rome (and all of us reading today), exhortations that would encourage them to align their behaviors and attitudes to what the Lord wants. Today, we look at the first of these exhortations from the first half of verse 9. Let’s get started.

Have you ever had someone say they loved you but you knew that deep down they didn’t really mean it?

I know I have and at the deepest level, a level that hurt my heart.

Maybe you’ve been there and can relate.

You see, so many people love by way of worldly standards and the world encourages us to look out for number one. Do whatever you want so that you feel good in life. Satisfying your own desires is the main priority and you shouldn’t let anything or anybody get in the way of that. Love as long as you are getting something out of it but even if you are, if you find a better opportunity, go for it. No need to worry about commitment.

This kind of self-centered and self-serving love is obviously not the kind of love God expects from His people. Not even close. And if we’re going to care for others as He desires, we had better heed the exhortation at the center of today’s message:

Love must be sincere.

This kind of love is genuine and true. It is absent of dishonesty or impurity or artificiality. Paul adds this guidance about sincere love as he wrote to the Corinthian Christians in what is known as the “love chapter”:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Friends, THIS is the way we are to love, in a way that’s obedient to God’s word, and if we’re ever going to have any hope of carrying these ways out, we have to submit ourselves to the Lord and allow Him to guide us to love others.

In other words, we have to allow God to love other through us. We need to make His love our love.

This is a love strikingly different from the way the world says we should love. For when we allow the Lord to love through us, we will model a self sacrificing love, a love that puts the needs of the people we love above our own, a love that was modeled perfectly by our Savior, God’s Son, Jesus.

As Christians, we are to become more Christ-like and when we devote ourselves to this, we will always be sure that our love is sincere because we will love others as He did.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at exhortation number two.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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