The more I learn of Christ, the more I read in the Bible, the more I am convinced of the central importance of brotherly love between believers. Yesterday, I was reminded by one of my roommates, a man from Brazil. When he found out that I was a Christian, a Protestant, and even a member of the same denomination as him, he clasped my hand and said excitedly, "You are my Brother!" We are probably more than a decade apart in age, from separate countries on separate continents, severed by a formidable language barrier, but my roommate is right: in Christ, we are brothers.
Today, I was reminded of it when Paul, in this morning's passage, made a point of telling the Colossians that the things he was suffering, he was suffering so that they could mature in Christ and "reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ." As a part of that process, he thought it necessary that they be "knit together in love" (Colossians 2:2).
...And then right after the message, I walked out and passed by a sister in Christ and the cluster of my old friends who surround her, trying as gracefully as possible to pretend they didn't exist because this sister has a problem with me that she doesn't want to even try to work out, preferring that we simply not be on speaking terms ever again, period.
In retrospect, I have to wonder: were either of us paying attention during the message? My roommate from Brazil, bless his heart, he can barely speak English, but he gets it: if you are a Christian, even if I have never met you before and our homes are a thousand miles apart, you are my Brother and I love you! But me and this young lady, we've known each other for years, live in the same city, attend the same church, and worship the same God in the same way...but we let some imagined offence cut off all love and kinship between us. We let this root of bitterness spread to encroach on other relationships. We call it holy, good and peaceful.
What are we thinking?
Christ was very clear about what we as Christians were to do if we ever had a serious disagreement with each other: forgive. It's been laid out in the song we've sung two weeks in a row: as Christians, we are forgiven so that we can forgive each other.
Christ laid it out even more plainly in Matthew 18:21-35. When Peter, thinking himself very patient and forgiving asked if 7 was the upper limit for how many times he should forgive his brother for the same offence, Christ didn't give him a number to use. Instead,He put things is perspective by telling the story of a man who, having just been forgiven a debt of roughly $6 billion in today's currency, goes out and strangles a guy who owes him the approximate cost of a used car ($12,000). All of us as Christians stand forgiven before Christ of an incalculable weight of sin. How hypocritical of us to then turn around and beat each other up over a pale pittance of petty grudges! When we were dedicated life-long enemies of Christ, He died for us...but we can't even acknowledge each other's existence because of our petty grudge-match? When we heaped up mountains of sin to separate ourselves from God, Christ came down from heaven and gave his blood to remove the offenses and restore the fellowship between us...but we think it's okay cut all ties between each other over a handful of perceived slights?
Was this what Christ saved us for? I cannot imagine it is.
Today, I was reminded of it when Paul, in this morning's passage, made a point of telling the Colossians that the things he was suffering, he was suffering so that they could mature in Christ and "reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ." As a part of that process, he thought it necessary that they be "knit together in love" (Colossians 2:2).
...And then right after the message, I walked out and passed by a sister in Christ and the cluster of my old friends who surround her, trying as gracefully as possible to pretend they didn't exist because this sister has a problem with me that she doesn't want to even try to work out, preferring that we simply not be on speaking terms ever again, period.
In retrospect, I have to wonder: were either of us paying attention during the message? My roommate from Brazil, bless his heart, he can barely speak English, but he gets it: if you are a Christian, even if I have never met you before and our homes are a thousand miles apart, you are my Brother and I love you! But me and this young lady, we've known each other for years, live in the same city, attend the same church, and worship the same God in the same way...but we let some imagined offence cut off all love and kinship between us. We let this root of bitterness spread to encroach on other relationships. We call it holy, good and peaceful.
What are we thinking?
Christ was very clear about what we as Christians were to do if we ever had a serious disagreement with each other: forgive. It's been laid out in the song we've sung two weeks in a row: as Christians, we are forgiven so that we can forgive each other.
Christ laid it out even more plainly in Matthew 18:21-35. When Peter, thinking himself very patient and forgiving asked if 7 was the upper limit for how many times he should forgive his brother for the same offence, Christ didn't give him a number to use. Instead,He put things is perspective by telling the story of a man who, having just been forgiven a debt of roughly $6 billion in today's currency, goes out and strangles a guy who owes him the approximate cost of a used car ($12,000). All of us as Christians stand forgiven before Christ of an incalculable weight of sin. How hypocritical of us to then turn around and beat each other up over a pale pittance of petty grudges! When we were dedicated life-long enemies of Christ, He died for us...but we can't even acknowledge each other's existence because of our petty grudge-match? When we heaped up mountains of sin to separate ourselves from God, Christ came down from heaven and gave his blood to remove the offenses and restore the fellowship between us...but we think it's okay cut all ties between each other over a handful of perceived slights?
Was this what Christ saved us for? I cannot imagine it is.
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