Marks of the True Christian

Romans 12

“9. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10. love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. 11. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”

These are the first 5 verses of 13 verses which Paul wrote about the ‘Marks of a true Christian’. By all means when you have time read all 13 verses and then think about how your life reflects Paul’s thoughts on this subject. If we were to consider the entire passage we would need a numbers of hours to process them.

Paul has written this as a challenge, not to the church, but to every individual who wants to claim that they are a Christian. Is your love genuine, that is do you truly love God, your neighbour and yourself. We have only looked at the first 4 words and already we are faced with a huge mountain to climb. We need to acknowledge two points; firstly we are not perfect we fail time and time again, but Jesus always welcomes us back when we ask for his forgiveness. Secondly, yes it is a huge mountain to climb but Jesus walks at your side every inch of the way.

Paul goes on to say ‘hate what is evil’. Now most of us can be quite good at hating but we are not being asked to hate a person, we are being asked to hate the sin they have done. It is very difficult for most os us to make this distinction. Vengeance is one of the most powerful forces, so powerful it creates war and violence in our world almost on a daily basis.

When we consider the problem of dealing with hate is it any wonder that in the next phrase Paul says, ‘hold fast to what is good;’. When we look at other people we always need to be looking for the good in them, not for the bad in them. One up-man-ship is so easy to slip into. When we look for the bad in people we are often doing this so that we can feel better, we can feel superior.

So to verse 11 - ‘Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.’ Are you a zealous person or do you hide behind others and hope that they will do good? How often do we step into the limelight and speak out? One of the great problems in dealing with situations of abuse and neglect is that people will not speak out. As a result of this children and vulnerable adults have been abused and in the worse cases have even died because those around them have refused to say a few words to Safeguarding Officers.

One of the key thoughts that Paul gives us is, ‘persevere in prayer.’ In our journey up the mountain it is in prayer that we share our thoughts and lives with Jesus who is always walking with us, who will even carry us if life is hard and painful. That is the God that Paul is telling us about, it was his message to the Romans and continues to be his message to us today nearly 2,000 years after he wrote this letter.

Andrew SSL