Description
Achieving Harmony in Christian Communities
In today’s slightly extended meditation, we explore the significance of harm… (visit YouTube for more)
Transcript
Today’s meditation is on a subject that keeps coming up on this channel, and that’s because it’s in scripture a lot. And when God repeats himself, that probably means it’s quite important.
See what you think. Romans chapter 15, verse 5. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Jesus Christ.
So the injunction here from Paul, the thing that he’s praying for, asking for, and seeking in the churches he’s writing to, is this harmony between believers, between those who are followers of Christ. And this harmony is something that’s not in abundance, in modern Christianity. We see a lot of discord, especially between different denominations and sometimes within individual congregations.
So how is it that we achieve harmony? What is it this verse is asking us to meditate on that’s going to help us to achieve that goal of harmony?
Well, the first clue, I think, is at the end when he says, in accord with Jesus Christ. If we use Jesus Christ is our true north for our compasses, if we’re all pointing ourselves at Jesus, what he taught, the life he lived, then naturally we come into alignment with one another.
And then at the start of this verse, Paul mentions that God is the God of endurance and encouragement. So, to live in harmony, with one another I’m afraid, unfortunately, it’s going to take endurance. Because, we don’t always like one another. And we may have to endure that fact. Us liking each other is not required for us to be in harmony.
And God is the God of encouragement. He encourages us in our Christian lives, in our witness, in our duty, in our responsibilities to love one another, whether or not we feel like it, and whether or not we have mutual liking.
It’s important to Jesus that we witness to the world as a community that is in harmony, loving one another. And because of this and all the other reasons mentioned in Scripture, we should make this our goal, shouldn’t we?
