As it Depends on You

June 18, 2019

As it Depends on You

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 12:18 (NIV)

Read: Romans 12

In Romans 12, Paul writes that the believer is transformed by renewing their mind, or changing the way they think. Paul used bullet statements to show us how to live in the truth of Jesus Christ. As we seek to grow in grace, the Holy Spirit will convince us this is the way God wants us to live. When we choose to live this way, the Holy Spirit empowers us to act on our beliefs.

I quoted one of those bullet statements above. Paul’s admonition is so much needed in our world today, and especially in our churches. Much of the potential witness for the Gospel is compromised because of the way people within the church treat each other. If those who say they love Jesus cannot be at peace with others who also seek to love Jesus, why should anyone believe the Good News?

One way of being at peace with others is to abide by one of Paul’s other bullet statements: “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good” (Romans 12:21). I saw this illustrated a few years ago after the horrible shooting at a church in Texas. A reporter asked a neighbor in the Texas community how they would respond to the tragedy, and the man responded, “You conquer evil by doing good.”

My Takeaway: Taking a stand for civility and respect in today’s culture may garner more distain than praise. Even so, we keep taking the stand for good. That’s what Jesus did.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2019 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.