2025-07-11
Good morning Dear Ones,
Last week, the Holy Spirit directed me to unpack RO 12: 1-10. Today, I’m commanded to continue with this analysis of RO 12, beginning at verse 11. The subject is serving God with love. Previously, we were told we should not be conceited and to serve in accordance with the faith God has given us. The concept of one body with members with different functions that all serve the whole was presented. Each member belongs to all the others. Imagine a world that cared so much about others that there was no reason to have the wars that are going on in it today! Sadly, mankind hasn’t learned the benefits of that.
Love in action borne out of obedient faithfulness to God’s teaching in the Scriptures yields a very different world than we have. RO 12: 11-13, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Let’s look at what love is from 1 COR 13: 4-8a, “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.” This is the kind of love that Jesus Christ has for each of us. We should be reminded of His description of it in JN 15: 13, 16-17, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you. This is My command: Love each other.” What is meant by “fruit” is good deeds that benefit others, God, and the world.
If it seems like this is presenting an unrealistic picture of our present world, and it is. But we are told to be “in this world, not of this world.” It is a picture of God’s will in a nutshell! IS 46: 9-10 presents an overarching truth. “Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebel. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose shall stand, and I will do what I please.” We are told that God places limits on how much wrongdoing He will allow before He adjudicates such evil [DN 9: 27; RO 3: 25-26; REV 19: 20; REV 20: 10], putting it to an end. Those who are faithful accept God’s ultimate sovereignty. We know Christ will come again to do God’s righteous bidding in this outcome [ZECH 14: 3-4].
Our Lord is very clear on the attitude we should take toward our fellow humans. RO 12: 14-16, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” The first phrase is not easy for us to do but we must remember that nothing escapes God’s attention [HE 4: 13]. Our persecutors make us angry and give us emotional and sometimes physical pain. And yet, our Lord asks us to bless them with our prayers that their behavior will come to an end. When the teenaged girl trying to hide under a table in the Columbine high school library was faced with her persecutor’s loaded rifle, he asked her, “Do you believe Jesus Christ will save you?” She said, “Yes,” and she was right, even though he shot her, taking her physical life. That young lady’s faith saved her, and she gained eternal life! When 6 million Jews and others gave their physical lives in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis, God was aware of their faithfulness. I truly believe they also gained eternal life, and the Jewish homeland of Israel was established. Their sacrifice didn’t go to waste. The absence of the persecutors over mankind’s history, like Seleucids, Torquemada’s Spanish inquisition, those responsible for the Pogroms of Eastern Europe in the late 19th century, the Nazis, and other evildoers tells me that God is working gradually to destroy waves of evil as they occur. Those doing evil now, and in the future will meet the same fate. We must realize that God allows some evil, so that we can learn the lessons he wants us to know. GN 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
PRAYER: O Lord, the Abrahamic Covenant of GN 12: 2-3 points forward to the day You will carry out Your final will for our world. It doesn’t only apply to Jews but to all who are faithfully obedient to You. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make you name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you.” You have made your will clear to us, and we pledge to obey it and work for You and our fellow man in accordance with it. We offer You our love, devotion, loyalty, honor, thanksgiving, and praise, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit commands me to write about RO 12: 17-21, God’s directives about not doing evil or taking revenge. All of these concepts and the ones already presented fit within having patience, humility, submitting to God, and serving Him with love and joy in our hearts. And yes, they fit in with GA 5: 22-23, worthy of repetition: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility (gentleness), and self-control. Against such things as these, there is no law.” When we obey God, we experience joy, satisfaction, spiritual growth, and inner peace. These are the byproducts of a God Who loves each of us! Praise and thanksgiving be to Him!
Grace be with You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2025. All Rights Reserved.
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