Scripture :
Romans 15: 7 – Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the Glory of God.
Observation :
The Strong take on the weak, the words of old are for the encouragement and strength of the people of God and then Paul says something that we as Christians do not want to hear today. The theology police and moral police do not want to hear what he says next. WELCOME one another as Christ has WELCOMED you for the Glory of God. WELCOME…..
Application :
The NIV says ACCEPT one another in order to bring praise to God. Man I need to hear this. I look at someones life and not necessarily say you need to clean up but def look at some things way more negatively than others. The reality is that is we accept people if what they are doing that is sinful is not beyond a certain moral compass that we have made up. My acceptance of them is based on how bad the sin is or how deep they are in the specific sin they are taking part in. Their lifestyle is huge and I judge them based on how they live, how they speak, and how they carry themselves. Man, as christians now days we don’t accept people, we say we do, but do we really? If a person says their gay or struggling with lust and adultery, or curse every other word or the list can go on, do we accept them? Circumstantially we do, but we don’t fully accept them. Christ MY LORD accepted me in my muck and mire and through his Word, his Spirit, and others teaching me daily what It meant to follow Jesus he has changed me day by day. It is not my job to change someone or even tell them how bad they are, or how they are in sin and they need to stop. My calling is to ACCEPT people and love them and show them in my life what it means to follow Jesus and love God and Fear God and let the Spirit of Jesus Christ do what he does. We must remember this is for only ONE thing….THE GLORY OF GOD. May accept people regardless of their lifestyle, political beliefs, theology, democrat, or republican, liberal, conservative, gay, straight, alcoholic, porn addict, drug addict, and much more that at one point in our life we were. We must remember the saving GRACE of Jesus Christ that saved us and changed us and let’s accept people and watch God work for his Glory through OUR live of obedience.
Prayer :
God forgive me for disobedience in my life and for pushing people away because I did not agree with their lifestyle. Forgive me for how I have hurt people for not loving them well and consist and long enough. Forgive me for giving up on people and pushing them away. Help me be different and accept people as you have accepted me. HELP ME LORD.