#DailyDevotion What Living The Christian Faith Should Look Like

Rom. 12:14-21 ¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse them. ¹⁵Be happy with those who are happy; weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Don’t be too ambitious, but go along with the humble ways of others. Don’t think you are wise. ¹⁷Don’t pay back evil for evil. Be concerned with things that everyone considers noble. ¹⁸As much as you can, live in peace with everyone. ¹⁹Don’t take revenge, dear friends, but let God punish, because the Bible says: “I alone have the right to avenge. I will pay back,” says the Lord. ²⁰But, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you’ll heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good.

So when we get to Romans 12 and practically the end of any of the apostles’ letters they will start giving evangelical teachings on how to live out the Christian faith in our daily lives. Yes, they do expect us to be living this way. If you see yourselves falling short here, don’t give up. We go back to our baptism, confessing our sins and believing they are forgiven for Christ’s sake. That said, we also need to remember these words do not stand on their own. The follow everything in the last eleven chapters. You are not going to even make a start of this without the last eleven chapters of Romans. So to briefly review, there is no one who is good. We all have fallen short of the glory of God. Adam sinned so we all became sinners. God loves us so he sent his son Jesus to be the second Adam who would obey God in every way in our place. Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for our sins and everyone who believes this God credits with Jesus’ righteousness. We have been baptized into Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial and resurrections. We are dead to sin now and are no longer answerable to it. Though we may sin it is because of our flesh. Jesus though has won and overwhelming victory over our sin. He has given us the Spirit so we may believe in him and walk in this good news. He has chosen you to be his holy people.

With that out of the way, no live this life Paul has put before us in these verses. Much of it is from Jesus’ sermon on the mount and the plain. We are called to live like Jesus having the Spirit of Jesus in us through baptism. We are to bless people who persecute us and harm us. We are called to be sympathetic with people in good and bad times. We are work together in harmony and be humble, i.e. not think more of ourselves than we should and think of others as more important. We shouldn’t seek to get revenge on people, that’s God business. Instead, do good to your enemies. Remember you were once an enemy of God and he has shown you his mercy in Christ Jesus. We are to concern ourselves with being noble. We are children of God after all. Finally we are not called to answer evil with evil but we conquer evil with good. This of course is related to not getting revenge but doing good to and for those who hate you. It is only in showing mercy, love, kindness and forgiveness they may also know of the love God has for them in Christ Jesus. If you act as they do, do you really believe God has been merciful to you? Go back to chapter one of Romans, believe what is written there about you and God’s answer to that and believe.

Merciful God and Father, you have shown us great mercy and kindness in your Son Jesus Christ, who was sacrificed so we may be reconciled to you. Grant us your Holy Spirit that we may demonstrate your great love for us to those who do not know you and who hate us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.