THE STORY OF JESUS: Acts 15:12-21
“We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” (Acts 15:19)
This was a huge issue for the early church, especially for Jewish Jesus followers.
It was difficult to imagine associating with people who didn’t keep the law.
What matters most for Jesus followers is our relationship to Jesus.
United to Jesus, He unites us to others as well, and urges us to love them.
Love, not law, is the critical issue for Jesus followers.
We love those who differ from us, and we do not make it hard for them.
We love them enough to remove any barriers that might keep them from Jesus.
Above all they need Jesus, so that He can change them from the inside out.
Our culture is changing, and people from other cultures are joining with us.
Our ways and their ways will differ… but we all need the Jesus Way.
Love, patience, kindness, mercy, humility – this is how to deal with differences.
This doesn’t mean there is no right and wrong; it means we are not the judges!
What are some issues that you struggle with in other believers?
How welcome in your church are people who act and think differently?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You are the only one that can really judge anyone. Help me to focus on the log in my own eye, and not get stuck on the speck in other peoples’ eyes.
Oh be careful little eyes was a song I sang as a little child. Those eyes can be a problem today. All too often we/I want my way instead of God’s Way. I insist that it must be my way or I’ll sulk, or leave, or . . . certainly not stay with the group. I see this in the church or school today – insisting upon their way. But there is only one way – God’s Way. Love God. Love others. Be a stepping stone and not a stumbling block for others to see Jesus, the Giver of Life. All too often we create barriers/hoops for people
too be accepted into the community of believers.
Help me to be an instrument of Your peace, Lord.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is dispair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.