Dave’s Monday Blast – April 29, 2024
Over 100 times in the New Testament we are admonished to live life with one another = (believers) in profound and practical ways. Let’s take a took at several of these commands:
1. We are to “encourage one build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Fellowship in the church isn’t just greeting each other or sharing potluck meals (although I have always loved those ). It means investing ourselves in people’s lives and helping them grow spiritually.
There are a variety of ways that this can be done: praying for them, sharing biblical principles that apply to their situations in life, or reminding them of God’s faithfulness and promises.
2. We should “be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor” (Romans 12:10). The church is not a place to claim personal rights or seek self-advancement. Instead, we serve each other by seeking the other person’s good. Think how many church conflicts would dissolve if we all considered others as more important than ourselves.
3. We are to treat others “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in live” (Ephesians 4:2). Verse 32 adds similar characteristics of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Think about the opposites of these qualities: pride, harshness, impatience, intolerance, rudeness, indifference, and unforgiveness.
We all want the first list to characterize us, not the second. But living in close relationship with other people sometimes reveals qualities we need to develop, doesn’t it? Perhaps that’s why some people no longer attend church. Maybe they’ve been hurt in the past or have developed animosity toward some fellow believers. Yet these conflicts are the very reason we need to stay involved.
Pastor Stanley comments: “God uses these hurts and disagreements to make us more like Christ and produce godly traits in us. If we give up on the church, we lose out on this sanctifying influence.” God uses our church relationships to transform us into a better image of Himself.
