Faith for the Week is a moment to pause, reflect, and receive encouragement grounded in God’s Word for the days ahead.
Romans 12:9-10 (ASV)
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another;”
Reflection
Paul wrote this letter to a church full of people who didn’t pick each other. Jewish and Gentile believers sat in the same rooms and had to learn how to love across a lot of old history.
He starts with this: “Let love be without hypocrisy.” The word hypocrisy comes from the stage. It described an actor who spoke from behind a mask. Paul is asking for love with the mask off, love that means what it says.
Then he reaches for a family word. Tenderly affectioned translates a Greek word for the natural love inside a family, the way a mother feels about her child. Paul takes that word and points it at the church. The people sitting next to you on Sunday are meant to be loved like family.
That kind of love starts with something God did first. The Father adopted us. Romans 8:15 says “ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” If He calls us His children, then everyone He adopted alongside us is family too, even the ones who wear on us.
“In honor preferring one another” means going first. You show honor before you wait to receive it. Sometimes that looks like thanking the person who cooked all day and never sat down to eat.
Who in your life have you been loving from behind a mask?
The holidays bring a lot of us back to the same tables, and some of those tables take everything you’ve got. Your Father knows every person sitting at them, and He gives you the love you can’t work up on your own.
Application: Pick one person this week and show them honor first. Say the kind thing out loud before you talk yourself out of it.
Prayer: Father, thank You for making me part of Your family, and for the people You’ve put around me. Take the mask off my love. Give me a real tenderness for the people You’ve given me, even the ones who are hard for me, and help me go first. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Closing: You belong to a family the Father put together on purpose. Whatever table you sit at this month, He’s sitting there with you.
Nicole wrote this devotional. It’s read aloud by an AI narrator voice.
