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

In the Greek for this verse there is no word for “let”, the Greek begins with Agape. The meaning of agape is love feast. That word, while it implies an unending supply of love, variety, satisfying, and tasty, does not tell us how to love. I good portion of 1 Corinthians 13 tells us how love acts.

Revisionist place the word let in the sentence to try and make sense of and deal with the rest of the sentence which is only two words log. The second word is anypokritos, which means unfeigned, undisguised, sincere.

The truth is, that if you know agape love, you already understand that agape has the character of anypokritos. The rest of the verse is four Greek words which in the raw form only mean abhor evil, cling good. May I suggest that all these words that follow agape in the verse are of and for the mind which has to be instructed in how to deal with agape?

The love of God, agape love, dwells in our hearts by faith.

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Because this love is from above, it is not natural to us. That love is greater, more abundant, perfect in every sense. Perfect love is not natural to us and like a feast can only be tasted a little bit at a time, one bite at a time. Until that love completes its perfect work in us we can only express and enjoy that which we have tasted.

Hebrews 6:4c,5 have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good:

Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

Luke 8:45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

This past week the woman with the issue of blood came up in a discussion on faith. I had been looking at the faith issue. I was looking at things from the perspective of the work of the Holy Spirit, calling this woman to act by faith.

A kind woman opened my eyes to the woman’s point of view. Not just what she had suffered, not just the obstacles she faced, not the fear she had to overcome, but insight into the woman’s experience. I had not thought about the woman’s point of view as much as I should have. I am not a woman.

There are two points of view here. The top side down and the inside out. All that she had heard, all that she had seen, vision of the Lord Himself in human form. The human perspective is one that is just as valid and necessary as God’s view point. I would make a better witness if I could see more clearly the inside out view. It is one that would make my witness more relatable. People tend to believe a witness who can demonstrate understanding and empathy when they are hurting and need help.

I am always looking for God to be at work so that I can join Him. That does not mean that the person in front of me will be able to receive a word from me. That moment when they are ready will be best served by someone who has compassion for the situation and the moment.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

That is two views, inside out and top side down.

Both are needed to be an effective witness.