SINCERE LOVE

Love^G26 must be sincere^G505.

Romans 12:9a

The King James version translates this verse, “Let love be without dissimulation.” Susie asked what is “dissimulation?” We looked it up in our favorite English dictionary and looked up the Hebrew word in Strong’s:

DISSIMULATION, noun [Latin , to make like; like.] The act of dissembling; a hiding under a false appearance; a feigning; false pretension; hypocrisy. dissimulation may be simply concealment of the opinions, sentiments or purpose; but it includes also the assuming of a false or counterfeit appearance which conceals the real opinions or purpose.

American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828.

G505 – ἀνυπόκριτος anypókritos – undissembled, i.e. sincere:—without dissimulation (hypocrisy), unfeigned.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Love must be authentic. It must not have the stench of hypocrisy about it. Loving as the Lord loves us is not something you can “fake it ‘til you make it.” Therefore, if we are having a difficult time loving our brothers and sisters in Christ or showing God’s love to an unbeliever for the purpose of pointing them to Jesus, we must stop and pray. As we have stated many times before, we cannot love the way God commands us to love in our own strength. We cannot muster up a loving feeling toward someone who completely drives us crazy. Agápē (willful love) is a choice we make, but we can only make that choice by the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. Sometimes, the ability to love a person is a daily or even moment by moment request before the Lord.

When the first Christian martyr was being stoned to death, he cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60b) The only way he could love those men enough to pray for God to forgive them was because he was “was full of grace and power” (Acts 6:8b). In other words, the Holy Spirit empowered Stephen to love.

Think right now about a person or persons you find it difficult to truly love or even be nice to at times. Ask the Lord to fill you with a sincere love for him or her and the strength to show kindness to them. Pray for that person desiring that they be brought into closer relationship with Jesus.

Father, help us to love others as You command. Help us to resist exercising a “faky” love thinking we are fooling someone. We cannot fool You. Help our love to be sincere, without hypocrisy.