Bible Study with Danelle

As we begin this last section of chapter 12, Paul begins to give us guidelines on how to be a true Christian.

I am just going to list some of them below:

• Let your love be genuine
• Abhor evil
• Love one another with brotherly love
• Serve the Lord
• Rejoice in hope
• Be patient in tribulation
• Be in constant prayer
• Live in harmony
• Weep with those who weep

And the list goes on. But the one that stuck out to me as something that we can all learn from is “bless those that persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Now, I can say that here in the US, while Christianity has been under attack, we are far from the persecution that our fellow Christians in other countries face. It is also a far cry from the persecution the Christians in Rome were facing at the time. Her is Paul telling them “Bless them”. “Don’t curse them.” That is a very different reaction than what would be the normal, human thing to do. This is why we are supposed to be set apart. We are called to be different.

For our brothers and sisters in Christ in other countries, I can’t even imagine what they go through. To be a believer and worry you may lose your life because you believe Jesus to be Lord. That an accidental split up of words or someone finding your bible could lead to life in prison or worse. For more information on this, please check out this 2021 article from Christianity Today.

Paul continues and tells the Roman Christians to not repay evil and to not avenge themselves, but to leave wrath to God. Instead, he tells them to feed their enemies and give them something to drink. Paul quotes Provebs 25:21-22:

If your enemy is hungry, give him

bread to eat,

and if he is thirsty, give him

water to drink,

for you will heap burning coals

on his head,

and the Lord will reward you.

Proverbs 25:21-22

Maybe this is where the saying “kill them with kindness” comes from?

We must remember that if we are going to overcome evil, we have to do it with light and love. Doing evil only breeds more evil.

Today I pray that you will spend sometime journaling about what you read in this passage. That you will reflect on God’s calling to us regarding our enemies and examine how we can react when something happens in the future in God’s way instead of the world’s way.