Welcome back to part to of my "to-do" list.
Yesterday I touched on Romans 12:9 and 10, and Paul's instruction to us to love one another.
That we needed to learn how to appropriate and manifest the love of God in our lives. In verse 9, Paul said that "our love is to be without hypocrisy." It was to be genuine....a choice we make....a choice to love as the Father loves.
I said it yesterday and I will continue to say it....
"Learning to love as God loves should be the highest priority a community of believers has."Why? Because the entire law (10 commandments) rest on the behavior and ability of us as followers of Christ. We are called to love God.....entirely with everything in us.....and to love others, as we love ourselves. Seems like we run around trying to do a whole bunch of other stuff without every working on this whole "love" thing. Don't know if such behavior is pleasing to God or not. I think maybe not.
Now...
Onward and upward.
V.11 - Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Perseverance! Crossing the T's and dotting the i's. Not quitting. Focused on the task at hand. Why? Because of the Spirit of God inside of each believer. How can you not be passionate for Christ after all He had done for us. The huge door that He opened through His death and resurrection that has given us the wonderful privilege of having relationship with God. No longer separated by our sin, we now can boldly come into His presence. One last thing. Paul ends the verse by saying "serving the Lord". We serve not because we have to, or because God is a heavy handed, demanding God. No! We serve because we want to. Because it is a part of our spiritual DNA. To me the greatest way we can serve Him is found in the words of a young girl who offered her own body to God to be used to give birth to His Son, Jesus.
Mary's words still fill me with wonder and awe when I read them...."Let it be done to me, according to Your word. Serving God means that I place myself at His disposal, to be directed into what ever work He has for me to do.
V.12 - Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. The big "3"... Rejoicing in hope. No matter what what your day looks like...no matter what the situation is that is overwhelming you...we rejoice. Why? Because no matter what is coming at us....it is temporary. I rejoice because this planet is not my home. I am a pilgrim only passing through. I have a hope that stretches beyond any pain I may feel. A hope that ties me to heaven and the presence of my Father. Hope that does not disappoint but fills me with resolve to see today through all the way.
Paul states that the mind set (and the heart set) is to be patient in tribulation. Easy to say. Hard to do. But what we need to always keep in front of us, is the simple fact that no matter what we may be going through, God is working in us to bring good out of it. We may not see it at the moment, and it may not be until after the fact that we can look back and see that the hand of God had been steadily working through the tribulation we were going through.
Now here's the one that hurts me the most. Continuing steadfastly in prayer. I know that this is my own perception, but I never feel that I have prayed enough. I want to grow in my prayers. I want to be stretched when I prayer to the boundaries and limits of my faith....and then beyond. I don't want to spend my life in "safe prayers". I want to learn to pray like John Wesley...George Muller....George Fox and the list could go on and on. I want prayer to roll off my tongue and flow from my heart. Such will only come as I grow in my love for God.
More tomorrow...
God on you..
mb
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