Dave Tate

Relationships Inside and Outside

Romans 12:9-10

Think of how we feel when we see someone we love ravaged by unwise actions or relationships. Real love stands against the deception, the lie, the sin that destroys. – Rebecca Manley Pippert

Relationships Inside

Romans 12:11-13

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable. – C.S. Lewis

Romans 12:14-16

Love never stands aloof from other people’s joys or pains. Love identifies with them, sings with them and suffers with them. Love enters deeply into their experiences and their emotions, their laughter and their tears, and feels solidarity with them, whatever their mood. – John Stott

Relationships Outside

Romans 12:17-21

How the Gospel Makes This Possible

• The gospel reminds us how patient God is with us.
• The gospel is how we think of ourselves with “sober judgment”.
• The gospel enables us to share in the highs and lows of others.
• The gospel reminds us there is a judge we can trust to make things right.