"Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."
Romans 12:9-10
It is easy to pretend. A lot of the time, I just go through the motions and put on a good act so that others have a good impression of me. My words are very big, but my actions are so very little. I will say that I love others and care for them, but that is as far as it goes. However, this does not please the Lord at all. He does not want me to pretend...HE HAS COMMANDED ME TO LOVE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST...and love is not a feeling but an action. So I must put love in action in my life and "really love others" and not just pretend.
Jesus did not just pretend to love sinners...He loved us with genuine affection. He humbled Himself and became like us so that we could be saved. Jesus came to us and met us in the depths of our spiritual poverty. We were living in the shadows of death, walking about as dead men in the darkness of evil; and He came and gave us life...He is the light of the world. He did not just give us a message of love, but His entire life was a picture of love as He demonstrated God's love by pouring out His very life on the cross and endured the wrath of the Father that should have been ours to bear. He gave up His life so that we might have abundant life. He suffered that we might share in His joy. We were helpless, hopeless, desperately lost, blind, and completely wicked, but Jesus did what we could not do. He saved us...He helped us...He is our hope....He found us....He has given us sight....He has cleansed us by His blood and now we are clean. Hallelujah! What a Savior!!! We are redeemed by Jesus..Praise His name!!
Jesus is our example of REAL LOVE, and we must follow in His steps. We must be a picture of Jesus' love here on earth. We must be spent, be poured out, emptied, used up, and be absolutely WASTED FOR JESUS because He is supreemely valuable in our lives. He is the greatest treasure, the greatest pleasure, the greatest joy we shall ever have.
So be spent for Jesus and live as He lived. Let us really love one another and no just pretend. Put love into action as Jesus did. And remember only Jesus can strengthen us and enable us to do so. So rely completely on Christ to obey His command to love...depend upon Him and surely He will do it.
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