Mentoring Minutes

“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. ² Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”   Paul (Romans 13:1-2)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Honoring governing authorities is not always easy but unless they are contradictory to God’s laws and commands let us humble ourselves to do so. May we spend time in God’s Word and prayer to discern our choices and in so doing always honor Him!

Our next “one another” comes back full circle as Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Romans under the inspiration of The Holy Spirit. He has commanded (remember, not demanded but commanded those who will obediently follow through in love) believers to be devoted to, honor, live in harmony with and be at peace with…one another.

So in Romans 13:8-10 he echoes what John shared in his Gospel that we are to “love one another.” However, in this text Paul has moved from personal discipline and maturity, even beyond relational and communal love (all of which certainly still apply) and he is talking about honoring all authorities (even in the midst of the pagan, polytheistic Roman government and religion).

He tells us that in our honoring of the authorities, which God Himself has ordained and established, that the best and only way to fulfill the law and honor all authority is by owing nothing to anyone except that…we love one another.

As the early Christians followed these commands they turned the world upside down. That same Love of God in and through Christ’s followers today can and will accomplish the same thing in a world whose love has grown and is growing increasingly cold (Matthew 24:12). We are the ones, as Christ followers, who alone can show a hardened world the real Love of God!

So let’s continue to grow in our love for God and allow His Love in and through us to impact this world and culture to know Christ.

Food for Thought…Respecting authority, even that which does not honor God is difficult. However, it begins with our love and respect of God Himself and then we can discern through prayer and time in His Word as to when and how we should honor governing authority and when we should obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29)

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. What has been your experience in honoring government authorities? How has that honored God?
4. Has there been a time when you chose civil disobedience? How did you discern that and how did it honor God?

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, respect and honor for governing authorities has been fairly simple most of the time. However it seems that more and more because we have pushed you out of our lives, homes, churches, schools and media, as well as many other areas of influence, we are reaping a government that is either hostile or ambivalent to You. May we always honor You as we seek to honor authority in our culture. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” Paul (Romans 12:16 NIV)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Pride is the greatest destroyer of loving relationships…the currency of Christ’s Kingdom…and it shows up in many ways. Seek to seek everyone through the loving eyes of Jesus!

Regardless of the command, it bears repeating that all the “one anothers” point to how we are to love one another. That’s why Jesus could sum up all the law and the prophets with the two greatest commands and in fulfilling the second command The Holy Spirit guided men to write all the “one anothers.” Remember we can only fulfill the second greatest command as we first fulfill the greatest command of loving and worshiping God.

With this in mind our next “one another” is found just a little further on in Romans 12 where we find in v. 16 that we are to “Live in harmony with one another…”

What we so often do with this and similar “one anothers” is respond, not so much in word as in deed, by living in harmony with those who choose to live in harmony with us. God’s command is for us to do so even with those who may not be so harmonious and especially with those who may be from a different socioeconomic position.

Oswald Chambers states it this way, “God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God (there’s that 1^st and Greatest command again) the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them.” (https://utmost.org/helpful-or-heartless-toward-others/).

Our role as Christ followers is to be the ones that live in harmony as much as we possibly can (without compromising His Truth and even as we stand in His Truth it is in grace and without condemnation as we can always trust and leave that to Him). Paul explains this a little further in v. 18 when he instructs that “as much as it is possible with us we are to live at peace with ALL people.” (Caps mine and added for emphasis)

God places some pretty “prickly” people in our lives and our job in showing them Christ is to love them, and in the case of today’s “one another” to live in harmony and be at peace with every other person as much as we possibly can to show them His Love.

Food for Thought…How are you doing when it comes to loving others by being harmonious and peaceful with them? Your spouse? Children? Friends? Church family? Coworkers? Enemies? What upsets your harmony and peace?

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. Find someone you may not normally associate with and start a conversation to learn more about them and share who you are in Christ with them
4. What will it cost you to live in harmony with others? Are you willing to do so in order for them to see Christ in you?

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, living in harmony means that I/we must get along even though each of us is sinful and fallen. We can only do this by the power of Holy Spirit in us because we have been saved by Christ and are walking with Him as Lord. May it be so in every believers life so the world can see the harmony that only comes in Your love. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”     Jesus (John 15:12)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Jesus command for us to love others as He loves us does not negate the 2 greatest commands…it reinforces them…and can’t be done without first obeying them!

We continue with another “one another” and surprise, surprise and just as promised last week… it is “love one another” and we find it as Jesus continues with His teaching, encouraging and challenging His disciples in the Upper Room. This is all happening on the night He is betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter and abandoned by all of His disciples.

His teaching that followed His example, even knowing they would all walk away during His greatest hardship is found in John 15:12-17 where He reiterates two more times a “new” commandment to “love one another as I have loved you.”

This must be pretty important for Him to continue to drive home the point that they are to love each other the way that He loved them…and we are to do the same.

Remember His first love was not for us (I know we seldom hear messages about this in our “me first” culture) but His first love was for His Father and He wanted (wants) us to love the way that He did (does). The only way we can do this is to first love Our Heavenly Father and Christ by The Holy Spirit in us and then let that love overflow in our love for one another!

What is your source of love for others? Is it rooted in your feelings, attraction, experiences, etc.? Or is it rooted in the unfailing, self-giving, sacrificial Love from God that prefers Him above all else (agape) as it flows through us to others?

As I mentioned in a previous devotional, 11 of the 59 “one anothers” in Scripture are specifically “love on another” and we shared five of those in the last few days. Must be pretty important if The Holy Spirit repeated it so often…and we know that it is because it is how the world sees the Love of God by how we love Him and others in His Love.

Our next “one another” is a more specific way that we are to love one another and it is found in Romans 12:10 (entire chapter is great for practical living and loving in Christ). Here Paul goes a little deeper and tells us to “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…” This is both a personal and collective command as the Greek words here for love is “philostorgos” which means tender affection toward others and “philadelphia” (sound familiar) which literally means brotherly love and affection.

He also tells us in this verse that the way we do this is to “honor one another above self.” We can only do this in humility by knowing who we are in Christ so we can choose to lift others above ourselves…this is being devoted to one another in caring and affectionate love.

This is how we are to love others by being devoted to caring for them with affection individually whenever needed, and remember that we can’t do this without knowing God’s love, loving Him first and then loving who we are so we can die to self to affectionately love and care for others!

I pray that you know this love both in how to love God and others and in receiving this kind of love from others…in your marriage, family, church family and friends…all others.

How awesome is it that God has given us very plainly in His Word how we are to love…Him, self and then be able to die to self, just as Christ did, in our love for others.

The “one another” that we have for today is a continuation in Romans 12:10 telling us to “Honor one another above yourselves.” If I don’t know who I am in Christ, confident and content, growing in who He has recreated me to be in Him, then I will struggle to lift and place others above myself. (Philippians 2:3-5)

We must understand that as long as we’re in our flesh we will not be able to truly accomplish any of these “one anothers” even though we can be very active in making it look like we are. This is the posture of many in our churches today who are active in serving in the flesh with very little time in God’s Word, prayer and listening to Him in order to know His Love, know how to love Him with all we are and then love who He is revealing to us that we are in Christ.

We need to ask the Lord to help us to honor and esteem others above our self in every relationship and opportunity as He prunes, purges, prepares and cleanses us of self so that it is Christ coming through us for others to see and know. Let us love in Truth and not hypocritically as we make it an overflow of His Love in and through us to others (Romans 12:9).

Food for Thought…Very simply put, loving, honoring or esteeming someone above yourself is saying or doing something with or for them that encourages or lifts them up, even and especially, at a cost to your own ego or success. Let’s love and honor others above ourselves to show them the Love of Jesus!

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. Find someone close to you each day this week and do something to honor the above yourself
4. Find someone that you struggle to get along with and do something practical to show them honor and love

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, it is not easy for me to love and honor others above myself and it is impossible to do so apart from Your presence in and through me. Teach me and help me first to submit to You so that I can submit to others and lift them above me in every situation and relationship so all can see and know Christ and His Love. In Jesus Name. Amen.