Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Romans 12:9–13 ESV)
We Southerners are pretty good at indirect confrontation. Rather than coming out and saying something, we smile, use our best manners, and say one thing while meaning something else. We can say a lot of things if we have a smile and have the pretense of being polite or sweet. One of my neighbors, one nice fall day, brought a rake over for me to borrow. They had a smile on their face and was very polite. It was very “neighborly” of them. It took me awhile to catch the hint – they thought I needed to rake my yard.
We tend to share all our connections and all our positive feelings for somebody before we criticize them. So if I someone begins by telling how much they love someone and how they’re connected, I know there’s a good chance that they’re about to tear into them or share some gossip about them. And we’ve all experienced “bless your heart”. If you’re not native, understand it is not always a good thing.
We can act or speak in a way that contrasts with our true intent or motive. We’re pretty good at that in the South. In other words, we can be pretty good hypocrites.
In this section from Romans on living as a Christian Paul tells us, “Let love be genuine”. It follows from remembering what God has done for us “the mercies of God”. In response, we present our bodies as a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). That is, we are now responding to the grace we have received, and we do so in a way that is not hypocritical. “Let love be genuine”. Let your love be sincere, let it be real as it’s shown to others. We need to remember this, because our understanding of love can be merely sentimental. We can talk about love in a way that is more about our feelings and affection, than the actual actions done for them. We can talk about how loving we are when there’s not a genuine sense of seeking their well being. So, Paul begins with a brief description of genuine love. Keeping us from thinking of mere emotion, Paul gives it shape, “Let love be genuine; abhor what is evil; and hold fast to that which is good.”