12:1-2 Life of Christian as spiritual worship with discernment of God’s will
12:3-8 Gifts of Grace as Enabler
12:9-21 Primary virtue of Christian “Love”
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Genuine Love (9) comes from God who is Love by Jesus through Holy Spirit.
Fountain of Love
Abhor the evil, hold fast the good (9)
Overcome evil with good (21)
Brotherly love (10-13; 15-16)
Love persecutor (14;17-20)
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Application (from John Piper’s Sermon)
Loving your enemy means;
1) something as simple as, “Greet them.”
2) practical acts of helpfulness in the ordinary things of life.
3) Prayer for your enemies is one of the deepest forms of love, because it means that you have to really want that something good happen to them. You might do nice things for your enemy without any genuine desire that things go well with them. But prayer for them is in the presence of God who knows your heart, and prayer is interceding with God on their behalf. It may be for their conversion. It may be for their repentance. It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts. It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin, even if it takes disease or calamity to do it. But the prayer Jesus has in mind here is always for their good.
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God of mercy!
May I be perfect as You, Heavenly Father is perfect! (Mt. 5:43-48) Amen.
Meditation on Rom 12:9-16 (ODB Feb 9)
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