Good morning.  What a great day to dive a little deeper into God’s word. We are going to start in verse nine of Romans chapter 12. 

Yesterday, I emailed verses 9-21 of chapter 12 in the book of Romans.  I asked that each of you spend some time with the Holy Spirit reading and then listening to His voice and guidance. I pray and hope that it is the start of a wonderful journey.

Romans 12:9 is the opening of a list of practical instructions for Christian living. It sets the tone for how believers are to relate to one another and to the world.

First, I would like for us to revisit verse 2 of this chapter. “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within.” This is the J.B. Phillips translation.  This is a good warning to us, that unless we have allowed and are allowing God, through the Holy Spirit, to transform our minds, these verses 9-21 in Romans will not make much sense to us in our daily living.  

Verse nine starts with telling you that your words are worthless when it comes to showing Love.  Love must not be an imitation; it must be sincere. The King James version says “Let love be without Dissimulation”.  This word means hiding one’s true feelings, intentions, or beliefs by pretending to be something different, a form of hypocrisy or deceit. It implies a deliberate act of concealing one’s real self and adopting a false appearance.  You are telling someone you “Love” them, but you have no intention of showing that love in an actionable form or fashion.

You have read that faith without works is dead, well the word Love without any action on your part to actually show “love” is exactly that.

It is not a witness to others about God if your words are just words and you have no actionable loving attitude toward that person.

The second part of verse 9 states for us to break from evil and have a real devotion to what is good.   The second part of this verse goes hand in hand with the first part.  There is a lot of evil that we could talk about breaking from. But remember the first part of this verse. The evil spoken about here is the evil of telling someone you love them and then doing nothing to show that love. You are supposed to abhor that form of evil.  You are to embrace the “good” way of living and show love to everyone in an actionable fashion.

You have heard the saying “speaking with a forked tongue”.  Telling someone that you Love them and then having no outward actions is doing using a forked tongue.

Remember the greatest commandment is to Love.  Not just in words but in an actionable form.  This can only happen if you go back to verse two and understand the transformation that must happen inside of you.

Today, Let God in. Open the Door to your mind and heart. He is knocking and just wants to come in to sit, eat and drink with you.

Let others see God not in your words but in your deeds.

Love and prayer for all

Larry