Father, thank You for the blessings of a good day. May our time together be an even greater blessing! Amen.
Romans 12:9,15-16 (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the biggest challenges in life, especially if we are striving to be serious followers of Jesus, is to love each other. Here the Apostle Paul makes that point very clear.
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. v9 NLT
Jesus first placed emphasis on this when speaking to His followers in John 13:34,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” NIV
Now I admit that over the years I have struggled to like some of the people I have worked with. Some people I have been just naturally drawn to, while others, for whatever reason, have not been drawn to me. Sometimes those over me have made it difficult for me to like them. I felt that I couldn’t live up to expectations. In one instance, someone hired me, and the other high-ranking person didn’t seem to approve of their decision to do so. That and a bunch of other reasons made it hard for me to like some people.
Now this may sound strange, though we didn’t see eye to eye and some of their actions caused me to not like them very much, I tried very hard to love them – quite often that was because of prayer. Saying things like, “God, I don’t understand why they want to make my life difficult. Honestly, I don’t like them but please help me to love them, like You love them.”
God answers those kinds of prayers if we are open to Him and willing to follow His leading…and He answered mine.
The thing is although some people may not be close to you, it’s not really that difficult to fulfill Paul’s directive in verse 15.
Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. NLT
Or as another translation puts it,
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. NIV
Our goal as followers of Jesus is to live in harmony with each other.
We must be open to learning and growing. Honestly, our pride can readily get us into trouble. We mustn’t hesitate to associate with people from all walks of life. Many are just looking for someone who cares, someone who will listen.
Lastly, Paul stresses… And don’t think you know it all!
That’s a big part of learning and growing too. God can work through us to impact the world around us if we will just open ourselves to His example and guidance in our lives.
Aug 9th, 2023, Wed, 5:09 pm
