Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Romans 12:9

In the verse above, Paul gives three distinct commands that should mark the life of a follower of Christ.

First, love must be genuine. You can recognize the difference between sincere love and a hypocritical self-serving kind of attention, can’t you?

Sincere love is free of deceit, free of hypocrisy. Sincere love is marked by a sense of genuineness. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7).

After establishing love, Paul states clearly that there is a difference between what is evil and what is good even when the world around us appears to be a bit confused.

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!

Isaiah 5:20-21

As followers of Christ, we are to abhor what is evil.

The word abhor means to regard something with disgust, to find something intolerable or to despise it. Do we despise what is evil or are we being led to accept what is evil as normal in our culture today?

Third, we are to hold fast to what is good. When we are asked to embrace what isThis is lived out by not conforming to the pressures from the outside. Clinging to good is found in found in keeping the great commandment to love God with everything within us and to love other human beings as well. Loving God, honors Him. Loving others, honors their dignity – their value.