Skip to main content

Thoughts on Christian Harmony

Romans 12:15-20 gives a very strong command to get along with one another.  This command was written to the churches in Rome, so it was written to Christians.  When people get saved, many things happen in the spiritual realm.  Our sins are atoned, we are forgiven, we are adopted, we are redeemed and we have moved from death to life.  Our spirit is actually regenerated.  Some people who come to Christ while on the rock bottom may have a miraculous deliverance and change.  Our church has Teen Challenge, a Christian recovery program, come and share every year.  The testimonies of those people are passionate and dramatic.  Other people are saved while growing up in a Christian home and there is no visible miraculous change.

After a person is saved, they must continue to live their life.  If they are obedient, these new Christians will join a church and will find that there are people just like them and people very different.  Everyone in a church is still human and is still living in the flesh.  This means that every Christian in a church will sin and offend and be annoying and be bothersome.  This is normal and was normal 2,000 years ago.

So Paul tells the saved church members in Rome to live in harmony with one another.  He says to do this by not being boastful and prideful but by being humble.  He also says, Never be wise in your own sight.  This is great advice for Christians.  Christ did all the work in saving us.  The Holy Spirit is sanctifying us.  No one can rightly come into a church full of boasting a pride, because they have nothing to boast over.  We are saved by grace, not works.  We all rely on Christ.  God hates pride because a prideful person is putting themselves above God.  God loves humility because Christ was humble and lowly and we are to be Christ-like.

Paul says as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  In other worlds, if there is someone in a church that you cannot get along with, for whatever reason, make sure it is not because of your sin or your pride or a misunderstanding.  If you are in the clear and they are still against you, leave them alone.  If the church is small and you cannot get away from them, then maybe find another church.  Do whatever it takes to keep the peace.  At the end of time, all will be glorified and there will be no conflict.  We are not there yet.

Paul finished by saying never take revenge.  Most people, except in the movies, actually takes revenge but I have known several people who think about it and fantasize about it.  This sort of thought life will destroy relationships and remove a person from a close walk with Christ.  Christians forgive, Christians humbly ask for forgiveness and if at all possible, we live in harmony with all Christians we meet and know.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts on Father Brown

There is a show on the BBC that is on American Netflix called Father Brown.  It takes place in 1955 in England, so World War II is still fresh in their minds.  Father brown was in the infantry in  World War I, then became a priest and was a chaplain in World War II.  Now he is an overweight, blading, gentle priest in a small British town. The humor of each episode is that when a crime occurs, the police are notified and Father Brown is usually already there for some other reason.  So Father brown gets involved.  The police jump to conclusions, arrest the wrong person and Father Brown, amateur sleuth, pokes around and figures out the truth and the police look foolish. Once he was arrested for obstruction of justice, during his time in the jail, he figured out who sabotaged the town race and solved the crime.  The district police gave him a commendation, so now the local police tolerate him better. In this show, having a priest as a main character ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on the 2017 iPhones

Apple released the iPhone 8 a week or so ago.  Apple will release the iPhone X on November 3, 2017.  This is part of Apple’s current annual release of updated phones with better screens, more battery life and a better processor.  I bought my iPhone 7 plus on release day in September of 2016.  I went to the Apple store and bought it.  When thinking about whether I need to update my phone this year, I need to consider a few things. First, is my phone functional or did I break it?  My phone is in good working order.  The screen is not cracked, the non-existent home button still works.  Volume and power and silent switches work.  Mechanically the phone is in good shape.  It took the IOS 11 and IOS 11.01 updates without a problem. The next question is this:  what do I use my phone for and will a faster phone with a better screen help me do these things? Podcasts:  I listen to many podcasts on my phone.  I listen to a mix ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Church Regulation in California

The first part of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States reads Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; Everyone always jumps to the second and third and fourth part of this amendment  and screams about freedom of speech or the freedom of the press.  However, the reason the original people came to America was to get away from religious persecution.  Therefore, the first protection against the government (which is what the amendments are), is about freedom of religion. In California there is a move, ever since 2010 the reduced the number of churches.  Actually, they don’t care if two people meet in a home and call it a church, they want to remove the large church meeting buildings.  This is because church buildings do not pay property or use tax.  Many churches in California, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, have been in their current location for a cen...
Post a Comment
Read more