ADDRESSES ON ROMANS
humility, without hypocrisy, in brotherly love? There was never a time in the history of the church when the exhortation of verse 10 was needed more than it is now. There are many who know much about the Bible, who teach prophecy, who have wonderful gifts, yet who do not exercise their gifts in lo~e. Some of these have tongues as sharp as Gillette razor blades. Let us be careful as to how we criticize our brothers. Let us be "kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another" (verse 10). It may help us to apply this message to our own hearts and lives if we take a pencil and make a list of the Christian graces which we are admonished here to manifest toward our fellow-Christians: Love without hypocrisy; kindness; unsel- fishness; diligence, industry, and zeal in service; joy in hope; patience in tribulation; unceasing prayer; benevolence; hos-- pitality; forgiveness; sympathy; humility. My! what an array of virtues! You say that no human being can attain these things? No; not without the in-dwelling, all-powerful Spirit of God. But by His grace we may and we should become more and more like Him who is the very em- bodiment of all that is true and honest and pure and righteous. "Yea, he is altogether lovely" (Song of Sol. 5: 16). And when we rejoice "in hope" (verse 12) - "that blessed hope" of His sure return, we seek more and more to be like Him; for "every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I John 3:3). Are you hoping for the return of the Lord, my friend? Are you rejoicing in that hope? Are you looking forward to the time when Christ is coming back to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords? If you rejoice in this hope, you will be able to endure trials with patience and to pray without ceasing. I once heard of a colored woman who was asked what praying without ceasing meant, and this is what she said: "Well, when I am sweeping, I ask the Lord to keep my life clean. When I polish the door knobs, I ask the Lord to keep my life polished. When I wash dishes, I ask the Lord to wash [Page 229
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