Love must be sincere

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)

 

It is the Christians who live with a renewed view of life in the Holy Spirit of Christ. The spiritual worship of the Christians is to offer themselves as holy living offerings that God is pleased with. In reality of this world, it is not easy for Christians to keep firmly the right life. Thus those who do not have a mature view of life as Christians have no choice but to feel burdened the strength of practical hardship. In such that process, compromise or submission with the worldly generation may also occur. But by grasping what good and complete God wants is, we can overcome the problem and move on to a more solid life of faith.

 

Christians refer to each other as brothers. Brothers can communicate a comfortable fellowship regardless of age or gender and etc. The word brother is similar to the commonly used meaning of ‘friend’, but the ‘brother’ in the text refers a relationship that maintains a pure relationship as a believer in Christ. The brothers, who are Christians, are in a special position to be able to advice faithfully with each other in the Word of God. In a society where individualism is maximized like these days, it is not easy to advice others. It’s very careful to say something of pointing out, even to your child, to your husband and wife. So we often think about whether to do it or not while reading the other person’s mind, and then we finally speak with difficulty. Sometimes we also keep it in one’s mind because cannot do it, which leads to mental and physical diseases after all.

 

The basic attitude Christian must have in daily life is to think everything ‘in faith and wisdom’. And the important point here is to live sincerely and humbly according to the amount of one’s faith and wisdom. Looking sometimes at a smart genius around or an able man, why am I not as good as him, what should I do to be like him, you may have thoughts like that. If you think about those, your mind would become devastated or desperate. But for God’s people, such thoughts and attitudes are not desirable. A body has a lot of parts, and if each of them is normal in its role, the whole body can function smoothly. Likewise, the brothers Christians are the ones who form one body together as each part in Christ.

 

The gifts of talent given to man by God are very diverse. Here the text of the Bible lists prophesying, serving, teaching, to encourage, giving, to lead, to show mercy, etc. These are kinds largely classified, and if you divide them each into details, there will be arisen so many types. That’s a similar situation to that there weren’t so many different kinds of jobs in ancient time but so many jobs that created in modern times. Whatever you receive from God, the important thing is to find and develop your talent, and use it in the right mind. The issue to be premised here is to utilize all talents for the gospel of Christ according to the will of the holy God. This is a principle that must be observed in all talent activities of man at all.

 

The core content of God’s will and the gospel of Christ is ‘love’. Love is a complete power ruling all the created. God sent Christ to the world to save men’s spirits. Christ conquered the world with love, not force of arms. The word love can be understood and used in a very wide and diverse sense to each. The full love shown by Christ signifies sincere, as well as it hates what is evil and belongs to what is good. Therefore, the brothers Christians must first love with faithfulness, and respect each other. At the same time, you should not be lazy and serve the Lord diligently and hard. In order to maintain a strong relationship between brothers, it is also important to cultivate one’s inner qualities. Here, the life of hope, patience and prayer is the way to maintain healthy the inner self.

 

Christians’ true appearances is to live in constant emotion through Christ’s love and salvation. Though everything in thought and life is a different world from the Christians’, it is because of the power of hope, patience, and prayer that they can live with love without looking at the world negatively. Love is a combination of purity and passion, and the cross of Christ is the crystal of pure passion and love. Let us always purify ourselves with hope, patience, and prayer in Jesus, and to be hard a Christian of love without lies who strives to treat others with love.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on May 21st 2023)