Genuine Love.

Let love be genuine;

hate what is evil,

hold fast to what is good.

Romans 12:9

Sojourner Truth was an African American evangelist, abolitionist, women’s rights activist and author who lived a miserable life as a slave, serving several masters throughout New York before escaping to freedom in 1826. After gaining her freedom, Truth became a Christian and, at what she believed was God’s urging, preached about abolitionism and equal rights for all, highlighted in her stirring “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech, delivered at a women’s convention in Ohio in 1851. She continued her crusade for the rest of her life, earning an audience with President Abraham Lincoln and becoming one of the world’s best-known human rights crusaders. 

In Romans, love is the dominant theme as Paul calls attention to love as the key moral norm for God’s people. Jesus had said that all the law and the prophets hang on two commands: love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

 

In Romans 12:9 Paul says the Christian the calling is to “let love be genuine”, and then shows what this love looks like. Generally, true love is summed up like this: Hate what is evil and cling to what is good

It seems to me that a revival of spiritual love and unity is urgently needed today in what has been called a bankruptcy of love. That is, the predominance of hate and evil appearing to be doing good. Paul encourages peaceful living as a way to cultivate godly love in all people. Therefore, Paul says, the love we are called to live out is not an emotional one, but one that comes from the transforming and spiritual rebirth of our minds, souls, and hearts. It is practical love in that it is experienced by both the self and the other; it is love lived out in ways that always cherishes others. This love seeks justice, forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.