Being A Romans 12 Christian Segment One "Sincere Love"

Romans 12: 9-11
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord

Romans 12 is a passage that I have been working through during my devotions in the morning. Then, my husband decided to work through that section of scripture for a sermon.
We have truly enjoyed mulling over and mentally digesting these bits of scripture together as he prepared and I also had some thoughts for my life.

There are some basic ideas that Paul lays out in this passage.
As we age in our Christian faith they can almost seem too basic and our eyes gloss over them, searching for more theologically deep texts and ideas.
Sometimes though, the most basic of concepts holds the most trouble for us to apply.

To begin with, sincere love.
The thing is, it is almost easier to have a sincere love for those outside of our family.
Have you ever noticed you can have a troublesome day but, when a stranger calls;
you brighten your voice, place a smile on your face and change.
I ask those of you out there in blog-land and myself.
Do we make that choice for our husbands and children? When struggling with your/our melancholy do we make the choice to give in to our wants/needs or do we place our family's needs above our own and make the choice to be sincere in our love and honor them above ourselves.
I have been convicted on both of these points time and time again.
Dave and I recently discussed why as Christians we feel it is our duty to show Christ's love to others but sometimes we forget that those others live right inside our home.
We need to be serving the Lord at all times but, especially right here.
Now, I have to ask a serious question.
What is my daughter to think of her Mommy if she smiles and gives her all to others but, when Daddy asks for a glass of water I say "I can't, or No, you get it" Just in a few instances no harm is done but, if a pattern is laid out and my feet continue on this track.
It sends a truly crushing idea to my daughter. I become insincere in my appearance of love.
I pray that this never happens in our home and I purpose to continually strive to show love to all I know.
Not just the ones on the outside but also to my husband, son and daughter.

Today I pray to take these things to heart
Having Sincere Love
Serving the Lord constantly and with zeal
Discarding evil and clinging to good
Placing others above myself