Living in Harmony with One Another
“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” Paul (Romans 12:16 NIV)
Love and Lordship in Focus…Pride is the greatest destroyer of loving relationships…the currency of Christ’s Kingdom…and it shows up in many ways. Seek to seek everyone through the loving eyes of Jesus!
Regardless of the command, it bears repeating that all the “one anothers” point to how we are to love one another. That’s why Jesus could sum up all the law and the prophets with the two greatest commands and in fulfilling the second command The Holy Spirit guided men to write all the “one anothers.” Remember we can only fulfill the second greatest command as we first fulfill the greatest command of loving and worshiping God.
With this in mind our next “one another” is found just a little further on in Romans 12 where we find in v. 16 that we are to “Live in harmony with one another…”
What we so often do with this and similar “one anothers” is respond, not so much in word as in deed, by living in harmony with those who choose to live in harmony with us. God’s command is for us to do so even with those who may not be so harmonious and especially with those who may be from a different socioeconomic position.
Oswald Chambers states it this way, “God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God (there’s that 1st and Greatest command again) the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them.” (https://utmost.org/helpful-or-heartless-toward-others/).
Our role as Christ followers is to be the ones that live in harmony as much as we possibly can (without compromising His Truth and even as we stand in His Truth it is in grace and without condemnation as we can always trust and leave that to Him). Paul explains this a little further in v. 18 when he instructs that “as much as it is possible with us we are to live at peace with ALL people.” (Caps mine and added for emphasis)
God places some pretty “prickly” people in our lives and our job in showing them Christ is to love them, and in the case of today’s “one another” to live in harmony and be at peace with every other person as much as we possibly can to show them His Love.
Food for Thought…How are you doing when it comes to loving others by being harmonious and peaceful with them? Your spouse? Children? Friends? Church family? Coworkers? Enemies? What upsets your harmony and peace?
Love in Action –
- Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
- Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
- Find someone you may not normally associate with and start a conversation to learn more about them and share who you are in Christ with them
- What will it cost you to live in harmony with others? Are you willing to do so in order for them to see Christ in you?
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Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, living in harmony means that I/we must get along even though each of us is sinful and fallen. We can only do this by the power of Holy Spirit in us because we have been saved by Christ and are walking with Him as Lord. May it be so in every believers life so the world can see the harmony that only comes in Your love. In Jesus Name. Amen.