“Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” 
Romans 12:9-10, NLT

These verses shout out to us this morning. Trust is a real issue for all of us in today’s world. Can we love without trust? When someone betrays our confidence, do we stop loving them? When a best friend lets you done, not doing what they said they would, do we stop loving? When the church lets us down, do we stop loving her people? When family hurts with words, for whatever reason, do we stop loving? These are hard questions to consider. 

What leaps of the page and into my heart are the words REAL, GENUINE and DON’T PRETEND! There is so much pretending in the world. We pretend ourselves at times. We even try to justify our pretense with “bless their heart”, they don’t know what they’re doing. But do we love, really love…even though we have many reasons not to love? My prayer is that we do continue to love even though we cannot trust at the moment.

We can hate what is wrong and take a stand…but we must love. We don’t have to fully trust another human, but we must love them. God does the same for us. We mess up, we fail Him or disappoint Him in what we say, or do, but He still loves us…REALLY loves us. He even takes delight in honoring us with blessings undeserved, not worked for and unexpected, not because who we think we are. And we thank God for that! 

HOW do we do this? We need to strive to love like God. We need to love with GENUINE affection, honoring others over ourselves, for this is REAL love without pretense. No fake love. I want to be counted on as one who loves, not matter what. Don’t you?

Dear Heavenly Father,
Your message in Your Word is never easy and always profound. Thank you for the reminder to love like You love. We are not as perfect as You and Your love for us, but You have given us a standard and model in Jesus Christ. Thank you for Your sacrificial love for us and Your delightful blessings along the journey here.
In Jesus Name, Amen