TOPIC: No Pretentious Love

Tuesday, August 18, 2015
TEXT: ROMANS 12:9-21
KEY VERSE: “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9).
There are so much insincerity and deception in the world today. Many professions of love are not true because they have hidden motives. Many people have feigned love only to have deceived, defrauded, swindled and jilted those they claimed to love? Many love for what they stand to gain and not what they are in to give. This is the kind of love most practiced in the world.
God’s word calls Christians to unpretentious love. This is one area in which the believer is not to be conformed to the world. The Christian life and love is real and not plastic or fake. Love is a deliberate act of the will. As such, this love is not as a result of what we hope to get but what we desire to give. One of the characteristics of this love is that it is not blind to evil. It does not encourage evil; neither does it close its eyes to evil in the life of the one it loves. Love is practical and expressive. It manifests itself in true and sincere feeling of affection for others. It is not hard, callous and indifferent to the plight and feelings of others. It is practical, fervent, joyful, kind, patient, enduring, forgiving, winsome and not vengeful.
It is clear that the carnal mind does not have the capacity to have and express this kind of love. You can’t give what you don’t have. The Bible reveals man’s heart to be intrinsically evil and selfish (Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9). So, to be able to have this love and express it, there must be a transforming and renewing of the mind. In other words, there must be a change of heart made only possible when one becomes born again by faith in the saving power of the Lord Jesus.
As Christians, we must daily strive to express this love everywhere we go. It is the mark that identifies us with Christ and makes us His worthy ambassadors. The world is hurting and hurtful; let us soothe it with love.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOB 35 – 38
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Love is a deliberate act of the will.