Romans 15:7 (New Living Translation)
7 Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.
Now upon first looking at it is seems simple enough. The response from my teens was just as simple. They responded as I did upon first glancing it over, that what Paul is saying is we have to be nice to one another and play nice. But upon closer examination and the fact that I had just preached on 2 Corinthians 5:12-17 on Sunday, I saw something much grander here lying in this verse. I saw that we are to live our lives giving glory to God.
Now my teens said yeah of course by being nice to others we are giving glory to God. I begged to differ with them. I said really. You are giving God the glory when you are nice to someone but then brag about it to all your friends. Or even more deeper when you are loving or nice to someone and say to yourself, "Man I feel good for helping that guy or gal out."
What I think Paul is saying goes back to the 2 Corinthians verses:
We have to think with our hearts that we are out to truly help others, just like Christ. He didn't come for His glory but for the Glory of His Father in Heaven. We are to be motivated to help others because that is the right thing to do. We should do it to make the other person feel better.
The other night we had gone to an overnighter youth event at another church. One of the young men there was wearing a hippy outfit. He told us he was promoting peace. I told him if he really wanted peace he would have to wait till Jesus came back or until everyone became a Christ follower. If we follow what Paul is telling us here and truly accept others and love others as Christ loves us then that is when peace will reign. Unfortunately, satan has other ideas and our own flesh fights against it. Peace will never happen as long as sin is alive.
I challenged my teens this week to reach out to someone around them that might not fit in. Someone they may not necessarily like. I asked them to accept them and love them as Jesus loves them. I challenge you to do the same. It really isn't that hard once you let go and let God help you. The hard part is the first step.
Put on your eyes of Christ and see things around you where you can make a difference. It only takes one person to change the world for the better. As long as that one person has God.
God Bless.
New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
Now upon first looking at it is seems simple enough. The response from my teens was just as simple. They responded as I did upon first glancing it over, that what Paul is saying is we have to be nice to one another and play nice. But upon closer examination and the fact that I had just preached on 2 Corinthians 5:12-17 on Sunday, I saw something much grander here lying in this verse. I saw that we are to live our lives giving glory to God.
Now my teens said yeah of course by being nice to others we are giving glory to God. I begged to differ with them. I said really. You are giving God the glory when you are nice to someone but then brag about it to all your friends. Or even more deeper when you are loving or nice to someone and say to yourself, "Man I feel good for helping that guy or gal out."
What I think Paul is saying goes back to the 2 Corinthians verses:
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (New Living Translation)
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!We have to think with our hearts that we are out to truly help others, just like Christ. He didn't come for His glory but for the Glory of His Father in Heaven. We are to be motivated to help others because that is the right thing to do. We should do it to make the other person feel better.
The other night we had gone to an overnighter youth event at another church. One of the young men there was wearing a hippy outfit. He told us he was promoting peace. I told him if he really wanted peace he would have to wait till Jesus came back or until everyone became a Christ follower. If we follow what Paul is telling us here and truly accept others and love others as Christ loves us then that is when peace will reign. Unfortunately, satan has other ideas and our own flesh fights against it. Peace will never happen as long as sin is alive.
I challenged my teens this week to reach out to someone around them that might not fit in. Someone they may not necessarily like. I asked them to accept them and love them as Jesus loves them. I challenge you to do the same. It really isn't that hard once you let go and let God help you. The hard part is the first step.
Put on your eyes of Christ and see things around you where you can make a difference. It only takes one person to change the world for the better. As long as that one person has God.
God Bless.
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