Be Patient in Your Tribulations

[Christsfreeservant]

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.​

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“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:9-21 ESV)​

Love does not engage in nor does it rejoice in what is evil, but it abhors what is evil. So it is not loving God or anyone else if we participate in or approve of or are entertained by what is evil. And we can, sometimes, approve of what is evil by our silence, by not speaking out against what is evil. And if we know that a fellow professing Christian is living in sin, are we not approving of their sin by our silence if we have the opportunity to say something but we say nothing? (women with women, and men with men)

For to (agape) love one another is to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. And it is to prefer to live through Christ and to choose his choices and to obey his commands in his power. And so it is to treat others with the love of God, which does no harm to a neighbor, but only what is good in the eyes of the Lord and that is beneficial for them as God determines what is beneficial for them, not as man chooses.

And we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are not to be slothful in zeal for our Lord and for the work of the ministry to which he has called us. But we are to be fervent in spirit in service to our Lord in accord with his word and with his calling upon our lives, both collectively and individually. For God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – should be the one guiding and directing our lives, and the one to whom our lives should be surrendered to do his will. For this is why we exist, to serve God with our lives.

But serving the Lord is not always easy. For when we serve him in the ways in which he has called us to serve him, and so we speak the truth in love to others, and so we are sharing the truth of the gospel, and we are refuting the lies of the enemy, we are not going to be well liked, even by others who call themselves Christians. And so we will be hated and rejected and cast aside as unwanted, and we will be persecuted and have evil done against us, and even by those who profess to love us, in some cases.

But through it all, we are to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and affliction, and be constant in prayer and in service to our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands. And instead of taking revenge when others do evil to us or tell lies about us to turn others away from us, or when they sin against us in other ways (lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, betrayal, etc.), we are to love them in return, and do good to them, and pray for them. For we are to love even our enemies and those who do evil against us.

And when this says here, “if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all,” this is never promoting compromise of truth and righteousness and moral purity nor the truth of the gospel of our salvation. We don’t back down from the truth of God’s word just so people will like us and so that they will not hate us. And we don’t join them in their evil just so they will think we are okay, and so that they won’t think that we are religious fanatics. But we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit always.

And when our enemies, who could be anyone, do evil against us, we are to do good back to them. But we need to be very wise and discerning in this so that we don’t get caught in any of their traps, too. So be loving, be kind, be forgiving, but be wise and discerning, for our enemies will try to trip us up, and they may betray us, and stab us in the back while pretending to be our friends, too. So while we are loving our enemies we must be careful to not be overcome by evil, but to continue to overcome evil with good.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Love Must Be Genuine

An Original Work / October 22, 2013
Based off Romans 12:9-21

Love must be genuine.
Hate what’s evil; cling to good.
Love each other with affection.
Show respect for ev’ryone.
Never lack in your zeal.
Serve the Lord with diligence.

Rejoice in steadfast hope.
In affliction, patient be.
Keep on praying; share with others.
Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute.
Feel with others sympathy.

Be not filled with conceit.
Daily sit at Jesus’ feet.
Live in harmony with others.
Live at peace with ev’ryone.
Repay not to someone
With the evil he begot.

Do not take your revenge;
Leave it to the wrath of God.
If your enemy is thirsty,
Give to him something to drink.
Do what’s right for mankind.
Evil: overcome with good.