It is funny how things work. Maybe it is funny how God works in your life. Whatever it is, it’s ironic how things happen sometimes. I’ve had this topic on my heart for the last week or so and today at church our preacher’s sermon was along the same lines as what I was wanting to write about. So that convinced me to go ahead and roll with this topic.
I’ve thought a lot lately about what our responsibilities are right now. I know responsibilities are broad. Responsibilities at work, home, church, or exactly what? Well I think those can all be related. I don’t think it has to be just one of those. Our responsibilities in several, or all of those areas, can be very similar. We can look and see what God wants from us by reading the Bible. What I have thought a lot about lately is what our responsibility is as Christians in this current time we live in. What can we do to make things better? What are we called by God to do, not only in times of struggle but all the time, that could help make things better? We have so much going on right now in our country. That is no secret. There are so many different opinions and ideas and division among people. It’s really sad to see, but true.
In Romans 12 Paul talks about our personal responsibilities. In Romans 12:9-21 it says, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
I know that was a lot of verses to take in. But I didn’t feel like I could leave any out. I think they all apply to our lives right now. We (and I say we as a whole, obviously not every person everywhere) have gotten to the point that if someone has a different opinion than we do, we hate that person. We can’t seem to agree to disagree anymore. It’s all or nothing. If someone is not on the same side of the fence as us on whatever the issue may be, we are finished with them.
It is like our preacher said today, we can’t overcome evil with more evil and be in line with what God wants us to do. There are so many of the verses above we could break down and analyze. We could see perfect examples of how we could put that into practice in our lives. But then we could find ways that we don’t put these into practice in our lives because we let the world influence us into thinking it is OK. It is OK to wish bad things on people that don’t agree with what we do. It is OK to fall into the trap of the evil things that so many people are doing right now. If someone wrongs us, it is easy to not bless them. But we see here how we are commanded to approach that situation. But do we do it that way? Do we bless those who persecute us? Do we live in harmony with one another? Do we live in peace with one another?
This has just hit home lately as I have watched what has happened to our country. It breaks my heart to see so much division. Instead of all being on the same page and wanting to go in the same direction, we are so far apart in so many areas. Being on the same page and wanting to go in the same direction doesn’t mean that we agree on everything. But that does mean that we have the same goals and principles in mind. Love God and love your neighbor. I have talked a lot about that in this blog. These are just more verses that talk about that same thing. Loving your neighbor doesn’t mean we agree with them on everything they believe or do. We can still love the person, which is what we are commanded to do. Something so simple, yet we make it so difficult sometimes. Sometimes we aren’t very lovable and sometimes we struggle to love.
Sometimes, or maybe a lot of the time, we don’t love those who wrong us. But, what if God treated us when we wrong Him like we treat people when they wrong us? Have you ever thought of that? We love the fact that God loves us no matter what we do. We mess up daily. We sin against Him daily. What if He reacted to us the way we react to others when they wrong us? How would that make us feel? I have thought about that a lot lately. I have thought about all the evil and hate there is right now and how we as a whole treat other human beings. What if God treated us that way? There wouldn’t be much hope of anything good after this life is over.
I recently text someone I know who is going through a tough time. She has a lot on her plate right now. It is a time that is very stressful for her. I just text her that I was praying for her and I really looked up to and admired her for what she does and how she does it. I told her Kristin and I really admired her Christian example that she was in her personal life as well as in her profession. I read her reply over and over numerous times. The more I read it the more I was uplifted. I text her back and told her that it’s funny how God works. I text her to encourage her and I’m the one encouraged. That’s what it’s all about. You never know who you might get to influence with just a positive comment or text. I don’t know if she meant to do that or not, but she did. The comment she made and the encouragement she gave me will serve me well as we navigate through this crazy and unpredictable school year.
Let us all be mindful of these verses in Romans 12. I encourage you to read them over and over. I have today and I take something new from it each time I do. Let us lift each other up. Let us love each other, even when we don’t agree. We can still love the person even if we don’t see eye to eye with everything they say or do. That’s what God does. He loves us, even when we fail day after day. He is still there to pick us up. He will never leave us. Let us remember to leave the judgement to God. Let us leave the revenge to God. But instead, feed people when they are hungry and give them something to drink when they are thirsty. I would love to see what this country would look like if we all would try to overcome evil with good!!!