November 7, 2019 HONOR AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
If we want to live life to the fullest, if we want to live in peace and harmony, if want to enjoy life, and if we want to experience God at work in us and those around us, then let us put into practice the instructions of the above verses. There is a warning however; because we may agree with the admonitions of these verses, we may ‘commit’ to do what they say and give it our best shot, but will still fall short of the goal. Rather than seeing these commands as something we must attain too, we must come to a place where we discover that we do these things because that is who we are in Christ. These commands, these activities, flow out of our identity in Christ-they are expressions of our new nature. These commands get to the root of our heart-how we view others and how we treat others-including those closest to us. Some may say “You just don’t understand how difficult the situation is in my family, my family is dysfunctional-these things sound good, but I don’t see it happening in my family.” True-we may be faced with broken or troubled relationships, but the good news is that we can by the Spirit of God in us, make the choice to honor others, be devoted in love, consider others more important than ourselves, and be tender hearted no matter how others may respond. When we live according to our old nature-the flesh-we are selfish and that invariably leads to conflict and strife; the verses above are the antidote to strife and discord and all sorts of evil. Again, unity does not imply that we all think just alike on every issue; the unity that comes from God is much greater-it supersedes our differences. There should be agreement when it comes to teachings of scripture, but even if there is some disagreement on some of the scriptures, we can still have unity-what a blessing! Even though we are all at different stages of our spiritual growth, we can walk in unity, encouraging and honoring one another. In the world there is ample strife and conflict-but we are not of the world. We may need to start some new habits and no longer take each other for granted, but be the one that finds ways to honor others, bless others and encourage others-even when we may not agree with them or we think they are not responding as they should. We can rise above the ways of the world; we can actually walk in the ways of God; we can return good for evil; we can see others as God sees them; and we can be the promoters and the protectors of the unity that is of God. Let us re-read the verses above and resolve to put them into action-today. How bout this---the next person you see after reading this blog-honor them in some way. May God open our hearts and our minds to see all that He has for us.
Colossians 3:13-14 “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Blessings, Buddy
RSS Feed