Romans Chapter 12: Verses 12-21 (NLT)
Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them.Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.
Instead,
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
In these verses, Paul summarises how we should live as ambassadors of Christ – a bit like a person specification! However, there are some things listed where I know I don’t match up. Do I rejoice in hope? I should, because through Jesus, there is always hope, no matter what. Patient in trouble? I definitely fall down on this one; I’m not very good at being patient at the best of times, so I definitely need to pay heed to Paul’s counsel to keep on praying. I do hope I’m more ready to help people when they are in need, and I enjoy practicing hospitality, however, usually when it’s convenient for me. I need to remember that when people are in need its not always when it’s convenient to me.
I still find it hard to truly bless those who don’t like me, or cause problems. Paul’s advice is simple – commit the matter to God and leave things to Him. Don’t get caught up with it. All of Paul’s advice is straight forward. It’s not a complicated person specification as an ambassador for Jesus. But the great thing is we don’t need to be perfect – the Holy Spirit will teach us and change us along the way. I need to keep this list to hand a bit more, as there are definitely things I fall down on. And I definitely need to keep on praying!
Dear Lord,
Thank You that even although I don’t meet all the specifications listed in Paul’s letter, the Holy Spirit will teach me and change me to be the ambassador for Jesus that You want me to be. Something I could never be do by myself. Thank You for Your patience. Help me to pay heed to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.