| “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 |
Supposedly, Rodney King—who became famous when some Los Angeles police officers mercilessly beat him—once reportedly uttered: “Can’t we just all get along?” The answer, of course, is: “No, we can’t! We can’t get along!”
We do seem to often rub each other the wrong way. Just this past weekend, in talking over lunch with some friends, I tried to express my frustration with a particular political figure. Speaking in hyperbole, I said something about physically confronting this particular individual and demanding he tell the truth. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone sitting at the table whom I greatly admire. Immediately, this person recoiled at my words. Instantly, I regretted saying them, even though I knew I was exaggerating for effect.
We are more prone to disagree and argue with each other than we are to simply find ways of allowing people to be who they are without succumbing to the urge to take exception to what they might say or what they might do. The Apostle Paul warned the Christians at Colosse using these words found in Colossians 3:13:
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
God really does want us to get along with each other. At the same time, we are to hold each other accountable and help each other deal with our besetting sins.
At the start of this new day, and every new day, we should begin by determining to help our brothers and sisters in Christ, by accepting them for who they are, recognizing that, just like us, they are not yet perfect in their Christian Spiritual Formation, and doing what we can to bear with them and to also quickly settle any grievance we may have with them. If we do this, we will show the world how God’s love has transformed us. By trusting in God’s mercy, grace, and abiding love: transformed we are, and transformed we shall become.
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, September 17, 2018
