Do you want to get along better? Romans 12.9-21

Today I had the opportunity to again read aloud Paul’s mandate for loving well. . . I looked at three different versions of the same passage, and here is yet another.  Before we turn the page, and look at Romans chapter 13, I must ask you—how are you doing with loving well? 

What I mean is … If you were to bump your life up against the items in this passage, how do you fare?

-Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.                  -Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.  Are you devoted to others in love?  Do you honor others above yourself?             -Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.     -Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.   How faithful are you in prayer?  Are you patient in the middle of trials?                                 -Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.   Are you generous?  Do you welcome the ‘disenfranchised’? -Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.                                -Rejoice with those who rejoice; can you enter into the joy of others?   mourn with those who mourn.  Are you willing to share the pain of others?      -Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not think you are superior. -Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  What do others think as they look on?                             -If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do you get along with others—even if they are difficult?                    -Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.  Are you willing to let the Lord ‘settle the score’?  Or do you carry within yourself the need, the desire to ‘get even’?  Don’t!                                                            -On the contrary:  If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. ?Be magnanimous toward those you oppose, and to those who oppose you! -Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It is an immediate ‘check’.  How are you doing?  As a child of God, is it natural for you to love, to forgive easily, to give generously, to live at peace with everyone?  If not, give yourself again to God, and ask him to help you live and love as he does, as he wills, and as he would have you…

Then, and only then will you get along with others better.

Christine