Love with Authentic Affection

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 honouring each other.

(Romans 12:9–10)

As I search God’s Word for reasons to break with the isolationism of this age, I find two inescapable facts: God commands it and the body, the church, needs it.

We read in Romans 12:9–16 a series of commands:

• Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cleave to what is good.
• Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honour; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
• Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not.
• Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
• Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

All those verses are actually an outgrowth of the first command, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Look at the way The Living Bible presents verses 9 and 10: “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 brotherly affection and take delight in honouring each other.”

Away with hypocrisy! Farewell to indifference! God commands that we reach out, accept, and affirm one another. This means that we consciously resist the strong current of the stream we are in . . . the one that dictates all those excuses:

• “I’m just too busy.”
• “It’s not worth the risk.”
• “I don’t really need anyone.”
• “I’ll get burned if I get too close.”
• “If I reach out, I’ll look foolish.”

The devil’s strategy for our times is working. He has deluded us into believing that we really shouldn’t concern ourselves with being our brother’s keeper. After all, we have time pressures and work demands (that relentless, fierce determination to be number one), not to mention anxieties prompted by economic uncertainty. And who really needs our help anyway? I’ll tell you who—just about every person we meet, that’s who. Don’t be fooled by the secure-looking, self-reliant veneer most of us wear. Deep down inside there’s usually a scared little kid who is waiting for someone to care, to hold his or her hand, to affirm and love with authentic affection.