Let Love Be Sincere

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good...”

~Romans 12:9 (NRSV)

The sub-heading of Romans 12:9 and following introduces us to love that is based unabashedly in truth.  It is not, and cannot be, hypocritical.

Love is hence the driving premise of life — a thing surrendering all ego for a God-pleasing result.  Love and truth are at once entwined — but truth against the self if necessary, so love can be victor for the other.  For the other, this power of God is pleasantly compelling. It is, after all, all for the glory of God!

When love is sincere it’s aligned in the holy triad of equity, justice and fairness (see early Proverbs [1:3; 2:9]). It doesn’t see existence as a thing to be grasped.  It’s eternally safe, coercing nothing.

Love is sincere; it is worthy of trust and respect. It’s patently inspiring.

As far as we’re personally concerned, we ought to hate what is evil within ourselves, but never to the point of self-condemnation — we instead flush it out, virulently, in resilience, with “what is good.”

Let Love — Big and Tall — Be Love

Let only the good — love that is sincere — co-exist within, so love’s beauty is the thing that all people see from without us.

Let every breath we have exert the force of love — but we will get it wrong from time to time. When we are insincere let love restore us in truth at accord with our repentance.

Let every call of wisdom exist before us as God calls it into existence. Let it exist in the sincerity of love. Let it be welcomed and not shunned, like the tall poppy is shunned. For wisdom is truth.

Bigger and broader and bolder than anything we have ever accepted is the concept of love. When we say, “Let love the sincere,” we are saying, “Let it exist in truth.” But we cannot always handle the truth. Many times we shrink. Many times the truth in love offends us, and conspires with our inherently unkempt anxieties. When truth is told, we are scared of the entirety of love. We’re quickly overwhelmed.

Love is bigger than we can grasp, but that is no excuse to not practice it.

Moreover, we have copious scope to flourish is this spacious thing. We open our understanding at the audacious rejection of fear. But we must challenge it in courage, and courage is a risk, redeeming momentary discomfort. But we can overcome discomfort — again, by love.

If we can remain open, we can conceive more of love. Let love be sincere.

***

When love is our vocation,

Love is our life,

When love’s our preoccupation,

We’re kept out of strife.

When love consumes us,

And sincerity’s our way,

All that is not love,

Cannot therefore stay.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.