WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE? PART 1

Some time ago I was given an article on neuro-plasticity and how science has determined that we, humans, can change the way we think and thereby act.  I remember putting this together with Paul’s admonition in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.  The renewing of our minds is possible – but how do we go about it?  Ah!  Paul gives us the answer in Philippians 4:8 as he gives us eight concepts to think upon. 

At that time I developed this idea into a message and delivered it at several venues, i.e. church services and festivals.  I felt that this understanding was given to me by the hand of God.  And indeed it was well received with ensuing discussion.

More recently within our local congregation I began looking into this same subject with a series of bible studies, keeping in mind the thought that Paul did not write this admonition to the church in Rome and then expect them to send a delegation to Philippi so as to read their letter and find out how to renew their minds.  Paul must have given the Romans the answer within their letter.  And it must have been located somewhat shortly after this admonition in Romans 12:2.  Let’s take a look at this possibility.

“Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and well pleasing to God – this is your rational act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and discern what God’s will is – His good, acceptable and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:1-2)

Does this process of renewal have anything to do with our “offering our bodies as living sacrifices”?  The short and obvious answer is, yes!  For what shall we say, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit … you are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)  Whatever God requires of us is His right; for when we entered into covenant with Him, we gave our lives over to Him. 

But it has been my experience that being a “living sacrifice” to Him is not an easy concept to grasp, never mind an easy activity to put into practice each and every day.  Paul elsewhere says, “I die daily”.  Here he proclaims that he means what he says and puts it into practice.  We must understand that Paul either had renewed his mind or was well along the way to doing so.

OK!  Let’s set this daily “living sacrifice” aside for the moment (we shall come back to it) and move on to some of the other things Paul tells us to do in Romans 12.

Verse 3, “For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

Oh my!  It is such a human, fleshly and “old manish” thing to do, to consider oneself better than others.  We seem to always want to put ourselves first.  Knowing this, Paul goes so far as to reiterate it in verse 10, “Honor one another above yourselves”.  And then again in verse 16, Paul says “… Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.”  Do you want to renew your mind?  This is a good place to start!

At this point Paul starts talking about the body with many members, each having a different function.  He says, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” (Verses 4-6)  The word translated “gifts” here would better be translated as “graces”.  It is the Greek word, “charisma”.  It is the same word Peter uses in 1Peter 4:10, “Each should use whatever grace he has received to serve others …”  The word “grace” is indeed a gift but the nuance is that one receives it without any merit of his own.  And the other concept here is that “each” of us has received a grace/gift.  In other words, when God calls His children, He gives each one a grace/gift, or it may be that He takes a look at us, sees what we have been born into and thereby raised with the aptitude of a certain personality and so calls us accordingly – we all must then take a look at Paul’s list of graces and see just what God has given to us or seen in us.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that we are striving to understand how we might renew our minds.  Understanding these gifts and where we fit into them will play a part of our renewal!

Let me briefly say that these graces or gifts listed here in Romans 12, are sometimes called motivational gifts as opposed to the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 (manifestation gifts) and Ephesians 4 (ministry gifts).  If you are interested in learning more about this, please see the book by Don and Katie Fortune entitled “Discover Your God Given Gifts”.  Don and Katie explain that we all have motivational gifts and they help us discover which gift is tops in our individual personalities and what other gifts we may have that complement this top gift.

For our purposes here, knowing which is our dominant gift, (prophesy, service, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading and compassion) will lead us to the greatest gift; which we all know and understand is love.  The very next thing Paul tells us here in verse 9 is that “love must be sincere”.  Our love must be honest, genuine and without pretense.  We must consider these graces, these gifts from God and we must pursue them.  But we must do so in love.  We must apply them with love.  We must prophesy in love, we must serve in love, we must teach in love, etc.  “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.  … Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)

Some time ago an individual confessed to me that they did not feel they had a love for their brothers and sisters in the church.  After some conversation and consideration it became obvious that this person, whose “top tier” gifts were leadership and service, loved others through these gifts.  They were able to organize church services.  They made sure there was a place in which to worship at and that the room was clean and ready.  Their observation was that they didn’t love like those who were compassionate or giving.  But the reality here is that we must learn to love within the gift (or grace) that God has endowed us with.