Love Without Dissimulation

Meditation and Prayer on Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

Dear God and Father, this command seems so far above us: “Let love be without
dissimulation.” How insincere we often are, Lord, especially in the matter of love.
For love is not blind, nor deaf, nor amoral. Dear Lord Jesus, You said “If You love
me, keep my commandments.”

The first and great commandment is to love You, our Creator and God, with all our
hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and all our strength. What hateful things
we sometimes do in the name of love. You have shown us the way, “Abhor that which
is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

Wickedness puts on a cloak of love and loves evil and hates the good. The minister is
considered loving if he does not rebuke sin and reprove ungodliness, thereby despising
Your commandment. He sells his God for the love of the world. This is not love, O God,
but how hard it is to be faithful.

Abhor that which is evil. All kinds of evil. Evil ideas, evil doctrines, evil attitudes, evil
posturing, evil hypocrisies, evil speakings, backbiting, slandering, evil gossippings, evil
deeds against Your commandments forbidding disobedience to godly authority, murder
and hatred, adultery and other sexual sins, thefts of all kinds, destroying reputations, and
even the evil desire for such things.

You abhor such things, dear Lord. You loath them. You hate them with every fiber of
Your holiness. We have no word strong enough to express Your hatred of them, but we
see Your hatred of evil in the awful sufferngs in the soul and body of Jesus Christ. Your
wrath came upon Him and He suffered the punishment that Your justice requires for
transgression of Your holy law, a coming short of the glory of God.

Grant us Your Spirit, not to dull our senses and obscure our moral natures, but to sharpen
them and invigorate us, for He is given to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and
judgment. We love in truth by abhorring evil, for that is the meaning of the sentence; we
also love by cleaving [sticking to, and being glued to] that which is good. How faithful
You are, Dear Lord. You not only tell us to love, but You tell us how to love.

“Reprove” means 1) to convict, refute, confute 1a) generally with a suggestion of shame
of the person convicted 1b) by conviction to bring to the light, to expose 2) to find fault
with, correct 2a) by word 2a1) to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove 2a2) to
call to account, show one his fault, demand an explanation 2b) by deed 2b1) to chasten,
to punish.

You, O Lord, abhor the evil because You cleave to that which is good. You know how
much better we would be if we would repent and turn from our evil ways and evil thoughts
and false doctrines and proud thoughts.

You hate what we have become by turning away from You, the fountain of goodness and
truth.

How we hate this in the flesh, dear Lord. Every fiber in our being rises against reproof and
rebuke. We rebuke the rebuker and reprove the reprover. This is right when men rebuke in
ignorance or to avoid the cross, but so evil when we resist truth and counsel. We dissimulate
and pretend to be wronged and add slander to our offenses against each other.

We sin either in tyranny, seeking to exercise lordship; or we sin in truancy, refusing to love
our neighbor as God has commanded us. We do evil in the name of love, and we know to do
good and do it not in the name of love. And so we dissimulate and our eye is evil, and we do
not see God. Men praise our foolishness which is horrid in Your pure eyes, O Most High.

Grant us forgiveness and repentance, O Lord, that we might be salt and light in the world for
Your glory and praise.

Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Pr 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Pr 24: 24 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse,
nations shall abhor him: 25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing
shall come upon them.
Pr 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.

But how deceitful is my heart, dear Lord. We reprove and rebuke, not out of love, but from
spite and ill will, pretending love. This is why we need Your Spirit so desperately, so we do
not play the fool and sow strife and hatred in the name of love.

Give me a humble heart to receive instruction, and meekness and boldness of Spirit to speak
truth plainly. How hard it is to be obedient in this, O Lord. May I be filled with goodness and
knowledge and so be able [capable, strong, effective] to admonish others in obedience to You,
having examined my own heart and life. May I love the good and the godly people and cleave
to them and support and defend them. May I abhor evil thoughts, doctrines, habits, practices,
attitudes, with my whole soul, as You do, O Lord.

Precious, Lord Jesus. How You loved us. You took upon Yourself our horrid sins and bore them
and received the punishment of Your Father for them as He withdrew His sweet presence from
You in the darkness of that day that You were hanged on a tree, a cursed thing, so that we might
be freed from the curse and received into favor.

Stir up my heart and soul, Dear Father. Renew Your image in me through the blood of the Cross
that I may abhor all evil in myself and elsewhere, and cleave to the good, whether the work of
Your Spirit in me, or in others by Your grace. For You are the fountain of life and from You
 all blessing flow. May I love people without dissimulation enough to seek their good in all
things, as did Your Only Begotten Son.

In the Name of You my Savior, Jesus Christ, for You “loved righteousness and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows….”
Heb. 1:9 Amen and Amen.