Saturday, November 17, 2007

Romans 12:9-21
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Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
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Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
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Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord. 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."
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
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This is what some people (especially one) have been trying to explain to me. The fact that we are brothers, the fact that we are told to help one another on our journeys. We are called to support one another, we are called to mourn with those who mourn, rejoice with those who rejoice. We are told to see one another's needs and to do something about them. JESUS CHRIST is our example. HE is our older brother, the one we look up to, the one we all want to be like because HE is so amazing. JESUS CHRIST is our prime example, HE GAVE UP HIS LIFE FOR US. How many of us would give our lives for our irrational younger brothers and sisters, or even the older ones who constantly mock you for going to math club? But this is what HE did. HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR US. SINNERS! HE sees what we have done, HE knows everything about us. And HE LOVES US. HE knows all of our failures, all of our faults, all of our "deep, dark secrets" (to use a horribly cliched line). HE knows all of that, and yet, HE gave HIS life for us. And we can't even look at the people around us, even the ones we profess to love, and say, "Yes, I love that person and I would do anything for him." We can't say that, because we KNOW it's not true. We KNOW that we would fail.
But,
GOD
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DOES
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NOT
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FAIL

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i love you nadine!

nadine j. said...

I love you too, Amy.

Carol-Lee Joy said...

okay, that was really well written. and what i was trying to say to you on saturday night, but couldn't find the right words.

you should read that chapter in context of the whole book. it drives it all home...even more.

nadine j. said...

Thank you Carol-Lee, for teaching me and helping me on the road.