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More On Gifts

             Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (Romans 12:9-13)

                Today’s passage continues from yesterday’s, in which Paul was writing about gifts. There’s no obvious, real break in the text, so it’s reasonable to suggest that the topic is still the use of gifts, lots of gifts and the quality of some of them. It’s the qualities that caught my attention because there’s another word that could be used, another gift that makes the others even better. Attitude, which is defined as “a settled way of thinking or feeling about something.” The things we’re supposed to do, we’re supposed to do sincerely, with devotion and honor, not lacking in zeal, with fervor, joy, patience, and faith. This isn’t supposed to be our response when we feel like it, but to be a settled thing with us.

                And so we come again to what I believe should be one of our main prayer requests. It’s not something we should ask God to give someone because they’re down, it’s a 24/7 need because a bad attitude can sneak in any time and for seemingly no reason. In fact, Paul lists things that aren’t often thought of as gifts: evil and affliction and describes how we are to respond to them: with hatred and patience.

                One of the things to keep in mind is that Paul makes it clear that a “good attitude” isn’t always sweetness and light, but the vast majority of the time, the attitude he describes is positive. We need to keep in mind that we’re to practice hospitality more often than we flip the tables of the money-changers. We need to pray for the wisdom to know which is which.

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