Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.     Romans 12:9 HCSB

Ethics is defined as the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the governing of an activity. You might simplify it by saying it’s how we act.

It’s that time of the year again. We have received that dreaded email telling us we have to watch the videos on ethics in the workplace and sexual harassment. Sadly, I guess these two things have become such a problem in the workplace that every year, employees are forced to watch these videos and take a little test proving that they understand how they should behave.

Paul didn’t do a video, but he wrote a letter to the Romans, and in chapter 12 of that letter, verses 9-21he discussed proper Christian ethics. If we could live by Paul’s words, we might be able to stop watching these videos, but sadly, everyone can’t.

We still have about 6 weeks before we have to turn in our certificate to prove that we have passed the test, and I thought it would be interesting to read Paul’s ethical instructions to Christians to compare once I take the test.

Today, I simply want to touch on the basics. Paul goes into more detail, and we will cover this in the next few days.

Verse 9 sums it up. If we love without hypocrisy, detest evil, and cling to what is good, we will ethically conduct ourselves. He follows this in verses 10 and 11 by telling us to show family affection to one another with brotherly love. This doesn’t mean having our hands all over one another; it means to be considerate of those around us and treat them with love and affection as we would a sibling. He tells us to outdo one another in showing honor.

And then he gives us some spiritual advice to help us do these things. He tells us not to lack diligence but to be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. If we are right with the Lord spiritually, we will want to adhere to the Golden Rule from Luke 6:31, which says we are to treat others as we would like for them to treat us.

Worshipping, praising, and serving the Lord aren’t things we are expected to do now and then. These are things that should be the most important part of our day. It’s how we should begin and end each day and something we should be mindful of throughout the day.

To be fervent means to have a passionate intensity about what you are doing or saying. So, when Paul says we should be fervent in spirit, this means we should have a passionate intensity about our spiritual relationship with our Lord and Savior. We should want to honor Him and others. We should want to serve Him.

In verse 12, Paul tells us to rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, and be persistent in prayer. In Romans 8:28, Paul told the Romans that we know that all things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. We are never promised that if we love and serve the Lord, all things will go our way. However, the Bible tells us God will work all things out for our good. So, this means when things don’t go our way and even when they go horribly wrong, we can trust that God will work it out for our good and His glory.

Knowing this helps us to rejoice in the hope we have in Him as we faithfully serve Him. It also helps us to be patient in the hard times and trust that God will work whatever is going on out for our good. I am a living, breathing testimony to that, my friend. I will tell you I have gone through things that I thought could never turn out anything good, but they did.

And the last thing we will talk about today is being persistent in prayer. Pray what is on your heart. Pray often and don’t give up. Trust in Him. He loves you and wants what is best for you.

Have a great day!