Lessons from Romans

This week at Chi Alpha we have been even more focused than usual on the spiritual discipline of prayer. The sanctuary has been established as a prayer room, with music playing. We've been asked to make prayer something we talk about and something we actually DO on a daily basis. With this in mind, I've had a verse from Romans 12 on my heart for the past few days. When I went to look it up this morning, the Word just totally blew me away. Allow me to share with you what I found. (:

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Oh, how I love this scripture. I went to these verses because here Paul commands us to be faithful in prayer, among other things. But what really stuck out to me was that love must be sincere. Sincere. Such a cool word. It is derived from the Greek words, sine cera, which means without wax. See, back in the day sculptors would cover flaws in their work with wax to deceive the viewer; therefore, a sculpture "without wax" would mean honesty in its perfection. So to say that our love must be sincere is a powerful thing... Pure, honest, perfect. We can't have cracks in our love, especially cracks filled with deception, or anything other than the real thing. So my prayer today is that God would fill the cracks of my heart with His sincere, perfect love.