March 9th

1 Peter 3:8-12 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

These verses are speaking to believers, not the world. We cannot expect the world to be like-minded with us, or compassionate, humble, loving us, etc. But it is important for us to behave this way for several reasons. First of course, because God said to. Period. That really should be enough for us. He really doesn’t owe us an explanation. However, we can look at the other reasons for this command. He actually says in these verses that we were called to it so that we may inherit a blessing. So I guess this means if we don’t do it, we will miss out on some blessings. Thirdly, it affects our witness to others. The last thing the world needs to see is more Christians being rude. (Keep in mind being compassionate and kind does not mean being tolerant or condoning sin.)

Jesus said that they will know we are Christians by our love. Rude, selfish, prideful, arrogant, and dismissive behavior or attitudes do not equate with being winsome.

John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The Church around the world is made up of so many different kinds of people so there are going to be disagreements and not everyone will understand each other. Add to that the fact that everyone is at a different place in their walk with Christ, so everyone is not going to be on the same page. These are two things that in any other setting would be recipes for disaster. But, Jesus changes everything. If we have grace for one another, compassion and understanding that we are different, then we can allow the Holy Spirit to show us how to function as the Body of Christ and be an example of unity to the world. We can be an example of unity and diversity at the same time. We just need to keep the main thing, the main thing. Jesus. HE is the main thing. If we can keep our focus on Him instead of anything else, we can walk in grace with each other and teach the world around us how to walk in unity and diversity at the same time!

Have you ever run in to a believer (someone you had never met) who was totally opposite from you but the love for Jesus between you was so strong that nothing else mattered? If you haven’t experienced this yet, I pray that someday soon you will. When Jesus is really the main thing in your life and heart, the other stuff is so unimportant. Status, opinions, experience, or even gifts and abilities don’t matter when Jesus is first. When you meet someone that is like that too, it is a refreshing, wonderful, encouraging and uplifting experience even if they are from halfway around the world and you may not see them again this side of Heaven. It is like they are family you have never met. That is what the world needs to see. That will win some.

Jesus, thank you for making the Church the way you designed it and help us to walk in that design so that people will see your love in us. Help us to be winsome. Help us to set aside our differences with other believers and come together in you. Help us to get over ourselves and start being compassionate, humble and loving to others. Help us to realize what really doesn’t matter.