Today's Verse: Romans 12:9-21, 13:8-10

Are you guys ready for a longer passage today? If you want to, click on the link and read the passage in different translation than NIV, read it here in NIV, or skip to my thoughts at the end. For the rest of us:

"12:9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. 20On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

13:8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continueing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

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I am just receiving this message so clearly over the last couple of days: love. I can tell you that I almost never open up to the Book of Romans. Yet for some reason I have ended up here today. Since the passage was long, comments will be brief (as if!!):

• 12:10 -- Putting the needs of others before ourselves. This comes so automatically when we think of our children (at least 99% of the time). But as we start to work our way down the food chain, so to speak, starting with our spouses, closest friends, THEN relatives, and so on, I don't find this to be nearly so automatic. Boy, do I expect it out of others! Imagine if we all really practiced this even for an hour out of every day and paid forward kindnesses sent our way... Amazing... Coincidentally, the Greek word for brotherly love in this passage is philadelphia. Cool!
  

• 12:12 -- Being joyful in hope and patient in affliction is a daily battle for me. I have good spots that radiate like sunbeams through summertime clouds, but it seems like, more times than not, my clouds obstruct my sunny view. Patience is something that is so painful for me to have to learn, and God is SOOO clearly trying to give me multiple opportunities to hone this skill. Quit it, already! I know I'm impatient!! Sheez... ;) Being the control freak kind of person I am, this is one of the hardest, but probably most important, lessons I will have to endure learn in my lifetime.

• 12:19-20 -- Who among us doesn't get a sick, private satisfaction of thinking or saying, 'Serves them right!"??? Especially you willowy types who thrive off of rules, structure, and a disgusting sense of justice, which we rosies appreciate but can find utterly smothering. (If you're wondering what I'm talking about, ask HisGirl.) There were so many people who got right up in my face after Tom died and either accused me of using religion as a way to not deal with the reality of the circumstances, or disliked me before the tragedy and disliked me even more that he was not there to defend my good name. I felt completely justified, having done all I could to honor my God and honor my husband, honor the memory of a fallen soldier, to leave them with a few thoughts to put in their pipes for future smoking, so to speak. Then one of my BFFs unfortunately revealed what I lovingly refer to as a "hater" verse, Exodus 14:14 -- "The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." (KJV) Crap! Man, Lord, why you gotta be hatin' on me?!? You know they have sinned against me! This is the one time when I should get to call them out on it. Instead, I was obedient to the verse, and unfortunately, every single one of these folks have had serious trouble transpire in their lives in the last two years. Wow. Talk about a faithful God. He keeps His promises, even the scary ones. Really drives home the point in v. 20 about heaping burning coals on the heads of those who have wronged you, huh?

• 13:10 -- Lastly, this is really the key verse to complement the one from the other day. If you love people, you cannot harm them. At the same time, you are obeying God. What can be better than that? It's a win-win situation.

Sorry this post got so long. It's a pretty hefty one, and I kept my comments short. Not near as "chatty" as the others, but I just wanted to put it out there. I'll toss some lighter stuff your way when possible!

Have a relaxed and groovy Wednesday!!