Love

Mark 12:30-31 says:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

So much is encompassed in these scriptures and how we should live and interact with each other.  It is easy to love our family and friends.

It is easy to love people who have similar interests and ideas.  Living out this commandment becomes more difficult when we cast the net further, yet this is how we should conduct ourselves.

What about the person talking about us behind our backs, the work colleague subtly 'white anting' our position. People can be cruel.

These situations do arise but we have been given the living word of God as a guide and his precious Holy Spirit to comfort us and give us strength and peace to help navigate our way through.

Romans 12:9-21 says:  Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written:

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.  On the contrary: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

With prayer and reading the living word of God, we are becoming more like Jesus. The natural man would lash out and retaliate when he is wronged, but we are a new creation and have been shown a better way to live.

We are the light and the salt to a lost world. It is our reactions and behaviour that are noticed by those around us - way more than our words of witness.

Rebecca Fortunatow