Romans 12:9-13

13 exhortations for the believer.

• 1.       Let love be without hypocrisy.
• 2.       Abhor what is evil;
• 3.       cling to what is good.
• 4.       ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;
• 5.       give preference to one another in honor;
• 6.       ¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence,
• 7.       fervent in spirit,
• 8.       serving the Lord;
• 9.       ¹² rejoicing in hope,
• 10.   persevering in tribulation,
• 11.   devoted to prayer,
• 12.   ¹³ contributing to the needs of the saints,
• 13.   practicing hospitality.

Let’s see if we can think of concrete examples of each of these actions/attitudes, one at a time.

Let’s assume that as we have gone through these exhortations, that we kept score on how well we are doing in each of these areas. I can say that I do pretty good at diligence and rejoicing in hope, but not all that good in being fervent in spirit or practicing hospitality. I just finished giving all the final exams in my classes this week, so grades are on my mind. (Rhetorical) what grade do you think you would get? What is the value of an “A” over a “C”? ie why should we strive to do these things?