Sincerity

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Romans 12;9

The whole chapter of Romans 12 has got to be one of the richest passages in His Word. Seemingly; every line and phrase, are full of meaning and illustration. I believe verse 9 is a wonderful definition of sincerity. Obviously, love cannot be insincere. Otherwise, it could not be love. One of the definitions of sincere is: “without guile.” You can’t and shouldn’t fake love. Love should not be beguiling, either. This is why Jesus tells us to love like He loves, because He is sincere. He really cares, has no ulterior motives and purely, unconditionally loves us.

How refreshing. I know that as sincerely loving as I am, I, at times, do fake it. When I catch myself, I am penitent, and amazingly God gives me sincere love almost immediately. Just realizing He loves when I don’t; breaks my heart, and convicts me, and humbles me, enabling me to love with His love. You see, when I can’t or won’t, or don’t want to love, I ask Him to love through me. When I allow that to happen, I can actually feel the transformation of my attitude happen. Moves me to tears, often.

The second half of the verse is an amazing tool for keeping your love sincere. Hating evil is healthy. Not that we should go around angry at the devil all the time, but we should hate him, and all he stands for and doe, the wickedness and inhumanity, and cruel attacks on all that is Holy, and his relentless promotion and support of all that is unholy. The last part of this verse helps me do the first and second part of the verse. When I cling to what is good, my love is sincere, and I hate evil more easily, too. When I flirt with evil or condone it, or tolerate it, I get spiteful and vindictive, and find it hard to sincerely love. See how all three help each other? I encourage you today to do all three in conjunction:

1. Love sincerely, 2. Hate evil, 3. Cling to good

For me, I always start with Jesus. Accepting His love and loving Him back. When I cling to Him, evil has no power over me. Just now writing this, I have such a sincere love for all who are part of the friends and family of Grace Harbor Ministries, and I am blessed.

Sincerely His and yours,
Pastor Fred

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