pJesus provides a way for us to put God’s calling for us to unconditional-love into practice. And by taking a look at how Jesus devoted himself to others, we can see exactly how He wants us to do the same. Romans 12:10 tells us not only to devote ourselves to each other, but also to ‘Honour one another above yourselves.’ In theory, this sounds pretty easy - put others first and always show love. Practically, though, there’s so much that can get in the way of us doing this. God doesn’t just want us to put those who are kind to us, or just those who we think deserve to be shown love, above ourselves; He’s talking about everyone. That includes those who make it really difficult for us to show kindness and forgiveness. But Paul doesn’t leave us wondering how on earth we can love you-know-who; he gives us some really practical and helpful advice in verses 12 and 13 by saying, ‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality’ (NIVUK). Through the potential-awkwardness of showing love and kindness to those who reject it, we’re called to be patient and find joy in our hope in God, and sharing how it’s going with Him will make this so much easier. /p
pWhat now?br /
‘Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality’ gives us really useful, hands-on advice. Let’s go do it. Whether it’s a full-on house you can invite someone to, or a drink you can buy to chat about real stuff over, go bless someone./p