In Romans 12:9-13, the apostle Paul emphatically stresses the need for all the Christians to exercise their gifts (previously mentioned in Romans 12:6-8) in a non-hypocritical manner. Their love for each other, as well as the Lord, was to be done without compromise or in a two-faced way. Their walk, as Christians, was to be done with zeal, not in laziness and apathy. They were to rejoice in hope, stay patient during times of trouble, and to be constantly in prayer, whether during the mountain peak moments of life or during the valley of the shadow of death times. Paul's admonitions are a prelude to other characteristics consistent with being a true Christian, rather than one who wears his Christianity on his sleeve.