Janel MacLean | Teach My Heart To Love

Hello Friends!!  I am so excited to share one of my favorite passages with you all today from the book of Romans.  Romans 12:9-21  talks about the “attributes of a Christian.”

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

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[a] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 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,”[b] says the Lord. 20 On 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.”[c]

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

These are words that I strive to live up to, to cleave to.  Clearly, I am a human, so living like a Christian is a constant struggle.  I am not a righteous person in my own right.  I can make daily decisions; minute by minute and second by second choices to be righteous and more Christ-like.  What I love about these verses is that it doesn’t say you have to be perfect.  It gives us attributes that we can strive for and work towards.

• *  We need to love.  We need to love everyone and mean it.  All of our duty towards one another can be summed up in that one word…love. True Christian love will make us take part in the sorrows and joys of each other.
• *  We need to bless others; even those who hurt us the most.  When are hearts are broken and we want to yell and retaliate, those are the times that we need to turn to prayer and bless our persecutors.  We need to strive to be at peace with everyone
• *  We need to rejoice with others and live in harmony.  Those that rejoice in hope, are likely to be patient in tribulation

Doesn’t that sound amazing?  Isn’t that something that we would be blessed to live like?  Can you imagine having a heart, always at peace, full of rejoicing, and blessing others?  What an amazing world this would be.  It is my goal to really choose these attributes daily, hourly, always.

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