For The World Mission Conference 2016, we were asked as new missionaries to prepare and present a devotion at the beginning of each day.  Since it was seemingly well received, I decide to share it with the cyber world.  May God use it to prompt LOVE in your heart, in your soul, in your mind, and throughout your day.

The passage from Romans 12:9-21 will be our focus.  I enjoy paralleling scriptures in different translations.  Often for me it gives me a better perspective or it will help it to make more sense in my human often rushed and scattered mind.

Looking at this passage in both the NIV and MSG translations caused me to dig deeper and ponder the sacred words for daily life application.

What must love be?

It must be sincere (vs 9).  Sincere, Latin meaning “No Wax”.  In times past dishonest merchants would fill the cracks of their pottery with wax and glaze over it to give the appearance of a flawless piece.  Later, when an unknowing purchaser would take the vase home and would pour their hot oil into it the wax would melt and well, they had a mess!  Honest merchants began stamping “sincere” on the bottoms of their pottery to signify that their items were without imperfections. (I’m not sure what kept the dishonest merchants from doing the same, but it seems like an easy way for customers to spot a good buy.)  So, when the heat is on, who are you really?

Love also must not be fake and you should love from the center or core of who you are.  Love shouldn’t be surface or just for show.  Sometimes love will hurt and when it is the real deal, when you dig deep to get it, when it costs you something…that’s when it is true.

What ought we focus on or hold on to?

Verse 9 tells us to “cling to what is good”.  Focus on the positive.  I can’t help but remember Philippians 4:8…whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable (ad-mire-able), excellent, praiseworthy…think about/focus on these things.

What is love?

Love is joyful in hope. Patient in affliction. Faithful in prayer (vs 12).  1 Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us love is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not dishonoring, not selfish, not easily angered, it doesn’t hold grudges.  Love protects, it is trusting, hopeful, it perseveres, and it never fails.

How do we live out love?

We should share, with God’s people first (Gal 6:10), with those in need.  We live out love through hospitality, but by practicing it and by being inventive.  We shouldn’t be afraid to try something that hasn’t been done before.  I fear that often our love can be insincere or not heartfelt because it is done out of habit or by just ‘going through the motions’.  How often do we use the phrase, “I love you,” but we don’t think about it or the words just slide out?  Love is lived out by having empathy.  We need to feel what others are feeling, to understand what they are feeling.  At least we ought to try and if we just can’t seem to, be honest.  “I’m sorry, I have never experienced what you are going through and I’m not you so I can’t fully understand what you are feeling.  But I am here for you and I want to try.”  We have all experienced times of joy, times of pain, and all those in between.  Maybe you haven’t gone through exactly what they are, but you can recall a time that you did have those same emotions.  Love says we should be living in harmony with one another, getting along.  Don’t stir up trouble or look for a rift where there doesn’t need to be one.

Love also provides…food, drink, needs (vs 20).  Love is others first, me second.  Do you think of others and how your actions or words might affect them? In verse 10, we need to be good friends that love deeply.  Rejoicing when they rejoice. Mourning when they mourn.  Most of all, true love is unconditional.  It is that Agape love that Jesus gave us and set the ultimate example when he suffered and then died on that cross.  Jesus was ALL IN, it was from his core, it wasn’t just for show, and it wasn’t without cost.

Whom should we show/give love?

This would seem to be one of those easy answers, maybe the answer is easy…but the doing is the hard part to swallow.  We should love the Lord’s people, believers, God’s family; we should love one another; our family (1 Tim 5:8); those of low position, the nobodies, the unwanted; widows and orphans (that’s listed too many times to count throughout scripture); EVERYONE; and then it specifically tells us to love our enemies.  Our enemies aren’t only those who speak against us, that persecute us, but they are even those that we just don’t see eye-to-eye with or that we just don’t want to put up with today. >I’m certain I heard the gasping from around the globe. <

How should we react/respond to our enemies?

This passage tells us, “Don’t hit back”, “Don’t seek revenge”, God will take care of it, He will take care of the negative.  BUT we must let him, leave room for God to work.  How many times do we try to take care of things ourselves and in those times that God doesn’t get the chance and we make it even worse?

I’m not disputing that this is tough stuff, I struggle with it all too.  We are human and without God’s help we just can’t do it.  But we are to be encouraged…Don’t Quit!  When it is hard, PRAY!  When times are at their hardest, PRAY HARDER!

We are instructed to discover (look for; search for) the beauty (the good stuff) in EVERYONE.

The world’s definition of love is not God’s love.  It’s not how Jesus loved and it’s not true love.  God is love (1 John 4:8).  We are to be like Jesus.  We are Called To More.  More than the way the world loves, more than the way we feel, more than the way another loves us.

Want “On Earth As In Heaven”?

Follow Jesus.

Be like Jesus.

Love like Jesus.

I have this quote on my phone, it’s been there for months now despite my usual habit of changing it often.  It says, “Love anyway. Love even though. Love just because.”

When we love like God does, the way Jesus calls us to love, we get a little bit “On Earth As In Heaven”.