Selah Sunday - Pausing for God's WordChristian Behavior (Part 4)

"Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" (Romans 12:10-11)

diligence - characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort; painstaking, showing you care


fervent - greek word: zeo; #2204; learning fervor, fiery hot; full of burning zeal, opposite of cold, dignified, unemotional.


In a Christian context, fervent signifies a high spiritual temperature, inflamed by the Holy Spirit

Christian behavior is about being diligent, fervent

(on fire for the Lord and His word) and serving the Him.

Selah Sunday - Pausing for God's WordChristian Behavior (Part 3)

Last week, we talked about "abhor what is evil" the second part of Romans 12:9. Remember, we are to abhor, detest, loathe anything that is contradictory to God's word and cling to what is good and healthy for spirit man.


Another part of Christian Behavior is Romans 12:10.

"Be kindly affectionate to one
another with brotherly love,

To be kindly affectionate is to be generously having a tender attachment, to be soft not hard-hearted.


Strong's dictionary defines brotherly love (#5360; greek word philadelphia) as the love of brothers, fraternal love, the love Christians have for other Christians.

"Let brotherly love continue," (Hebrews 13:1).

Part of behaving like a Christian is expressing brotherly/sisterly love as well as being generous and affectionate.

"In honor giving preference to one another' refers

to expressing brotherly/sisterly love without selfish ambitions.

In other words, not worrying about what's in it for you.

Instead, you are putting someone else's needs above your own.

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit,

but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than

himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own

interests, but also for the interests of others,"

(Philippians 2:3-4).

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Heavenly Father, teach us how to show brotherly/sisterly love to Your people.  Please give us a heart that is affectionate, kind, and generous without any selfish ambitions, so that people will see that Christ lives in me.  It is written that we ought to love our neighbors just as we love ourselves.  In  Jesus' name I pray.....Amen.

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Until next week,


SELAH

Selah Sunday - Pausing for God's WordChristian Behavior (Part 2)

Last week, we went over the first part of Romans 12:9...."Let love be without hypocrisy.." Remember, since we are made in God's image, who loves us so dearly and is love, therefore as a reflection of our Heavenly Father, we are love, too. "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him," (1 John 4:16)



"Abhor what is evil."  Webster dictionary defines abhor as to loathe, to dislike greatly, and detest.  To behave like a Christian is to reject, detest, and greatly dislike evil.  You cannot compromise your moral and Godly characteristics for evil works.  Evil is an enmity to God's word and it must be abhorred.  "Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it," (Psalm 34:14).


 

"Test all things;

hold fast what is good.

 Abstain from every form of evil.

Now may the God of peace Himself

sanctify you completely; and may

your whole spirit, soul, and body

be preserved blameless at the coming

of our Lord Jesus Christ,"

(I Thessalonians 5:21-23)

We are to abstain and sanctify ourselves from evil; And cling to what is good and healthy for our spiritual growth in God. In addition to that, cling to God's word, His truth, and grab hold to all things that are good in the eyes of the Lord.



Having said that, bottomline is...if you hold fast to what is good, nothing can separate you from the love of. NOTHING!!

"For I am persuaded that neither death
nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth,
nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,"
(Romans 8:38-39).

Please read Romans 8:31-39.

I think it's time to pause. Next week, we will continue you with Romans 12:10.





Until then,


SELAH

Selah Sunday - Pausing for God's WordChristian Behavior (Part 1)

"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good."
(Romans 12:9)

This kind of love is from a pure heart without impure motives, hidden agendas, and hypocrisy. It's from a good conscience and from sincere faith. "Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith," (1 Timothy 1:5).


According to webster's dictionary, hypocrisy is the false assumption of an appearance of virtue of religion. The greek word for without hypocrisy is anupokritos (un-oo-pock-ree-toss). It signifies a sincereity void of pretension and without putting on act.


In other words, it's genuine love, not that what's in it for me, stab you in the back, two-face it love. Love is not a role that you play as if you're trying to win an academy award for best leading actress. It's real life. It's non-fiction.

Now this is where we will pause, so you can allow this to take root in your spirit.  Next week, we will break down the second part of Romans 12:9.

So, until then,

SELAH.