Romans 12:14-21

                                                                 Romans 12:14-21

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

It is rather easy to love those who love us.  Paul continues his description of love in this passage.  Only, the love in the previous section was a love directed at those whose love is reciprocal.  The love described in this section is much more difficult because in is directed at those who demonstrate hatred.  Loving a friend is important but God calls and empower His followers to love their enemies.

 

LOVE MUST BE SYMPATHETIC: Typically, when we think of rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep, we consider these people to be our friends.  However, the context seems to indicate that Paul is exhorting us to by sympathetic to people who mistreat us.  Our tendency to be selfish can easily result in us focusing only on our own feelings and circumstances.  On a good day we might even take some time to cry or celebrate with a close friend.  Paul is calling us to be joyful when those who persecute us are joyful and to be sad when our persecutors are sad.

 

LOVE MUST BE HUMBLE: We are to live in honor with one another and not think of ourselves as being above other people.  We are to seek to build harmony between people.  We should not be looking to promote conflict, strife, and confusion.  God asks us to be intentional about building friendships and relationships with lowly people.  As we associate with people who are hurting and have faced difficulties in life, we will grow in humility.  We must never look at someone as being below us.  Seek for the good in others and don’t think about our own areas of strength.

 

LOVE MUST BE FORGIVING: Since we live in a fallen world, we will consistently face disappointment, hardship, and even persecution.  When others act in hatred towards us, it is not our prerogative to treat them in the same way or to seek for revenge.  Instead, we should look for ways to bless and serve those who mistreat or persecute us.  When others hurt or hate us, we can easily slip into a mindset that we deserve to be treated better than that.  This is not biblical thinking.  The only thing we deserve is hell.  Anything short of that is grace from God.  When we have a mindset that we have been shown so much more grace than we deserve, it is much easier to show grace to others.

 

LOVE MUST BE TRANSORMATIVE: We are to respond to conflict with peace and seek to live in harmony with everyone.  Of course, there will be conflict because others will sin against us, but we should strive to do all we can to be at peace with others.  When an enemy has a need, we should look for every opportunity to meet that need.  This type of attitude will cause them to think about their own sinfulness and cause them to wonder why we are so different.  The goal of blessing our enemies is that they might be transformed into friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

APPLICATION: Share in the joys and sorrows of others; especially our enemies.  Look for opportunities to develop relationships with people from a lower social and economic status.  When others mistreat us, we must seek to restore peace and get rid of the conflict be disarming them with kindness.  Show and share the love of Jesus with those who hate us so they might see Christ and become our brothers and sisters.

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