So Much in Common

There is something I don't understand. It is why any Christian would not get along with any other Christian. I didn't understand that before my accident, and I understand it less now. God loved each of us when we were His enemies; and now that we are His friends, He loves us even more! I don't understand how you can love somebody more than your love in dying for people, but I guess it's possible! :)

The Bible calls on us to "love one another," so every true Christian, I'm sure, at least wants to and cares when he does not. Also, if we don't get along because of our sin, we are clearly in the wrong and are the ones that need to change. Or if it's because of someone else's sin, we should forgive like God forgave us. Have you read the parable of the man who was forgiven his great debt and would not forgive another man's little debt? We had a huge debt which God forgave, and other people's debts to us can never begin to compare!

We have so much in common! We are all in the same family (human) and some of us are more closely related. We all have the same needs. We need God to take care of us, other people to pray, angels to protect, and food and water and air to keep us alive. We all call the same planet home, and some of us the same city, state, country, or space shuttle. :) And for Christians, there is more. In fact, we are all brothers and sisters with the same Father and the same Guidebook and Home.So every Sunday, church is like a family reunion; and Christian family squabbles are just as offensive to our Father as regular family squabbles are to our earthly parents.

I used to fight a lot with one of my brothers (he is one of my best friends now), and my parents tried everything they could think of to try to help us. They gave us paper, and said to keep a tally of all the nice things we said to each other, and said that they would take whoever said more to Golden Corral as a reward. Then they took us both. Regularly, they had us sit next to each other silently for a long time and hold hands. One time they washed our mouths out with soap. Just so you know, none of their methods were successful at completely curing us from arguing.  God did that when He was ready! But it gives an example of the lengths humans will go to in order to help their children get along. That is how much God cares when we don't get along with our Christian brothers and sisters! If you don't, and you are my friend, I am afraid for what He might try in order to change you.

If the reason you don't get along is not because of either of your sin, I hope you can see how petty that is. And I hope you can find it easy to say sorry, put away grudges, forgive, or whatever you need to do to change your relationship for the better. If it is because of someone's sin, I've already ponted out to you what the Bible says. If you don't care that you don't get along and don't want to change, I seriously doubt whether you have ever tuly encountered the love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace of Jesus. If you think otherwise, maybe you think wrong or maybe you can explain to me why I am wrong. An explanation would help me greatly, because I really don't understand.

One last thing: I hope as you read this you were thinking more of yourself than of anyone else. If not, maybe it would be wisest to put these things into practice by forgiving that person and reread it for your own benefit. I will just keep praying for those of you who don't; and want to remind those people of the great love that God has for them and that if I were to meet them, I would try to love them no matter what they said or did to me. And I know for a fact that I am not perfect (I am not in Heaven) and I am not the strongest person alive. I cannot even walk right now without something stable to hold onto with both hands!