The first seven verses of this chapter contain the last of what I would call teaching here in Romans. And, as is fitting, we see Paul’s instruction delivered under the ideal of loving our neighbor, putting their needs ahead of hours in the way we live our lives.  The reality is, loving our neighbor is simply being aware of their needs and orienting ourselves to serve those needs.

Just reading this helps me to realize, in retrospect, that I tend to be happiest when I am thinking about someone other than myself.  I get my deepest feelings of contentment when I am serving others. Ironically, when times get hard and in times of stress, I tend towards fending for myself and away from serving others. I don’t do the things I know I should do, and the downward spiral begins.  That is what Paul taught us back in chapter 7 as well; this is just sin working inside of me.

This morning, in thinking of how to apply this idea, an idea is simply to (similar to yesterday) be looking to understand the current needs of those around me.  I am going to take that a step further today though, I am going to actually take a few minutes to journal about what I think are the most pressing issues, the biggest concerns of those around me.   I will take time to think about them individually and directly.  Then, if I feel a nudge that I should actually reach out to them, or engage them in a discussion to hear from them and comfort them directly, then I will do that over the course of today and this weekend.  I will take action.  That’s my big idea for today.