Be Devoted To One Another
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Be devoted to one another in love <in a brotherly affection>. Honor one another above yourselves.’ (Romans 12:10); ‘Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.’ (Colossians 3:13)
Recently, we got a second cat; she is a kitty named Lacey and we brought her home to be a companion to our older (3-year-old) cat Leta. It took time, with much growling and hissing between the two, but the cats have developed an affection for one another and now they are sisters who hang out together. It is hoped that we in fellowship, as in Life Groups and as a church, develop a close affection with each other.
A great example was our gathering one Saturday morning a couple of months back to help one of our family members take care of her backyard. She couldn’t do her normal yardwork due to breaking her shoulder and with the task of caring for her sister. We have come together like this for others in the past and it’s good to still have that love for each other when one of us is in need that we respond. We do lose some people from time to time (COVID, for example) but we’ve gained some new family members, and they’ve come in to share in that affection we have as a family within the body of Christ. There is some sacrifice (I’m sure Saturday and sleeping in is synonymous with some, for example) but what we gain is the blessings of providing for another family member.
Family members do have disagreements from time to time, and like cats meeting each other for the first time we also have to learn each other’s quarks, likes and dislikes. We will not always see eye to eye, especially on worldly things (like my ‘loud, fast’ heavy metal vs. my wife’s foo-foo ‘Air Supply’ stuff). There are those quarks that we will have to tolerate ‘in house’, and much more when we deal with our neighbors and those we meet out in the world, in order to witness to them.
The people who need Christ are those who are not like Him because they don’t know Him. We must have thick skin, ear and eye filters, and some patience with those not in our Church family, in order to provide to them the Gospel and introduce them to Christ. Stand firm upon the Foundation of the Rock of Christ, don’t bend, but be quick to forgive and if at all possible, continue to witness; if it’s absolutely necessary to ‘keep your religion’ (don’t say or do things counter to Christ) only then walk away – but do it in love and in prayer for that person.
I am thankful we are in a family, in Monday Night Life! and in MBC, that shows love for each other despite our differences in background, taste, education, and age. This is what true love is, what the love of Christ is!
