Romans 12:9 begins “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them,” and then the verse goes on “Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.” [NLT]

Sincere love must characterize believers. Looking at what follows this verse, it becomes clear that sincere love is to flow from all those who claim Christ as Lord to those within the fellowship of believers, and to those outside the fellowship. Pure, warm, unadulterated, honest, genuine, unfeigned love, without embellishment or exaggeration is to be the mark of God’s people.

We are to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. That phrase comes between sincere love in the beginning of verse 9 and brotherly love and devotion in the beginning of verse 10. We are to hate the things that injure or hurt others. Whatever is unkind or hurtful should never be a component of our relationships with others. Instead, we are to cling to the good things, words and actions that benefit and bless others.

Words often hurt more than anything else. It takes a long time for my heart to recover from unkind or injurious words. And you cannot turn back the clock and take back hurtful words. Once spoken, they can never be retracted.

Words can injure people and bring a rift in relationships. Can a relationship ever be repaired? Surely with the grace of God, it can be. Will it? Maybe. Those who hurt and those who are hurt will have to work at forgiveness and love to bring healing, but the willingness to do so might not be there.

Hurtful words and behaviors hurt others. That’s what Romans 12 means when it says that love must be sincere. Love must be natural to a child of God; the kind of love that God has shown us, must now flow from us to this world, sincerely, honestly, warmly.