Living Like Christ

Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. 

Romans 12:9

Romans 12 is one of the most practical chapters in the entire Bible. After explaining our guilt and offering Christ as the answer to our depravity in the first portion of the letter, Paul goes on to explain how we are to live beginning in Chapter 12. It is one of the most important chapters in the New Testament.

Let us examine one verse from Romans 12 in this post. Three commands are given to us to learn and observe. A perusing of each one is in order.

**Love must be without hypocrisy. We are to love one another in a pure, authentic way. We shouldn’t simply be nice to people to their face and then tear them down behind their back. We shouldn’t to pretend to love for appearances sake. Rather, we ought to love people as Christ has loved us—sacrificially, purposefully, and fully.

We are all difficult to love at times. Yet, Christ loves us and gave Himself for us. Jesus now commands us to love one another. (John 13:34-35) That love must be true and without hypocrisy. 

**Detest evil. Christians are to live holy lives. We are meant to be set apart because of our salvation and due to the sanctifying work of Christ on the cross. Therefore, we are commanded by Paul to hate evil. Evil works, evil deeds, and even evil thoughts are in view here. We are not called to hate people. We are called to hate and detest the evil around us. May we detest evil and avoid it at every turn in order to example the difference that Jesus makes in our lives.

**Cling to what is good. We must pursue and hold onto the good in order to live consecrated lives also.  It’s not enough to avoid evil. We should also chase after the good, the noble, the true, the righteous, and the pure. Sometimes these qualities are difficult to find in our present age. But, we will find them if we only look.

Love authentically. Detest and avoid evil. Hold fast to what is good. Following these three commands will draw us closer to Christ each day. May the Lord help us to follow these commands!

Tony French