AUGUST 30
ACCEPT ONE ANOTHER
Romans 15:5-7
Now the God of patience and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God. (WEB)
In today's Scripture reading, the Apostle Paul tells us to accept one another just as Christ has accepted us. How has our elder brother accepted us? Fully and without reservation, with all His heart. He has forgiven and restored us to our rightful place as sons and daughters of His Father. He has empowered, equipped, and made us joint heirs of all His inheritance.
Accepting one another as Jesus has accepted us is a very tall order without the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. In fact, it's not possible to do it on our own strength. We might be able to be kind and tolerate some differences, but fully embracing each other as we've been embraced requires God's work.
1 John 4:19 says... We love him because he first loved us. (WEB) This is the key to our ability to love each other. The extent to which we can accept God's love for us determines how we respond to His love and begin to love one another.
My prayer is that we all realize how accepted we are in the Beloved. Because of Jesus's finished work on the cross, the Father has fully received us as His own. The more we understand that we truly belong to God, the more we will see others as He does. May a revival of love flow out from our innermost beings as we increasingly realize how much we are loved and accepted by God.
John 15:9-10
Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. (WEB)
Now the God of patience and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God. (WEB)
In today's Scripture reading, the Apostle Paul tells us to accept one another just as Christ has accepted us. How has our elder brother accepted us? Fully and without reservation, with all His heart. He has forgiven and restored us to our rightful place as sons and daughters of His Father. He has empowered, equipped, and made us joint heirs of all His inheritance.
Accepting one another as Jesus has accepted us is a very tall order without the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. In fact, it's not possible to do it on our own strength. We might be able to be kind and tolerate some differences, but fully embracing each other as we've been embraced requires God's work.
1 John 4:19 says... We love him because he first loved us. (WEB) This is the key to our ability to love each other. The extent to which we can accept God's love for us determines how we respond to His love and begin to love one another.
My prayer is that we all realize how accepted we are in the Beloved. Because of Jesus's finished work on the cross, the Father has fully received us as His own. The more we understand that we truly belong to God, the more we will see others as He does. May a revival of love flow out from our innermost beings as we increasingly realize how much we are loved and accepted by God.
John 15:9-10
Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. (WEB)