Romans 12:14-15
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless
and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with
those who mourn.
Take the Romans 12 Challenge!
- Memorize the weekly verse(s)
- Pray the prayer every morning/evening
- Print the reminder card, post it somewhere visible, take it with you
- Every time you see the "12" of the Seahawks' 12th man flag, think about applying these thoughts to your life.
- Post a comment to this blog to share how God is transforming you for good!
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| copy & print for reminder card - black & white |
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| copy & print for reminder card - color |
Think about it
Bless those who persecute you. To be persecuted has the
sense of someone hunting you down or targeting you. Believers in Rome dealt with this on a daily
basis. Many believers in the world today
are targeted for mistreatment because of their Christian beliefs or because of
their Christian actions (such as providing hospitality to people despised by
society).
Bless and do not curse.
It was socially acceptable to curse others who mistreated you. This continues to be one of the “patterns of
this world” that we should not conform to (Rom 12:2).
Rejoice with those who rejoice; Mourn with those who
mourn. At first glance this seems to be an easy assignment, but this is not the
case. It requires selflessness
sufficient for us to rejoice with others even when there is no personal benefit
to us (how often we react to others celebrating their good news with a fake
smile and a sarcastic “great!”), and weeping with those who have suffered even
when things are going just fine for us (we often don’t want others’ struggles
to bring us down).
Pray about it
God, when people mistreat me, stop them, please! But also stop me from adding fuel to the fire
with mean words meant to hurt. Soften me
to be sensitive to others’ feelings. Amen.
Apply it
How
easy it is to slip into saying bad things about people behaving badly,
especially when they’re making our lives miserable. Think about the last time you slipped into
it…how might you have blessed instead of cursed? Pay special attention to how others are
feeling emotionally – again, even those who treat you poorly. How might you rejoice along with them, or
mourn with them in their sorrow?
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