NEVER GIVE UP ON ONE ANOTHER!

We are going to fail. There can be no doubt about it. We don’t expect perfection from ourselves and we should not expect perfection from our brothers and sisters in the church. God doesn’t expect perfection. We already touched on this when we addressed the subject of forgiving one another. We must expect situations to arise when we need to forgive. People can be difficult and Christians are not exempt from that! That’s why Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2) The only reason Paul would say such a thing is that he knows patience will be necessary. He knows we will need to put up with each others’ failures with kindness. We can’t give up on each other! Think of the patience God has with us! Our brothers and sisters should receive that kind of patience from us!

When people fail there is often conflict. People get hurt. People get angry. Expectations go unmet. Conflict results. People think about leaving the church. We can’t allow conflict to cause us to give up on each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:13 says, “Live in peace with each other.” Paul doesn’t say, “Live in peace unless you’ve been wronged,” or, “Live in peace as long as it is easy.” He means that we are to work hard at resolving any conflicts. We are supposed to go out of our way to make sure they are not just ignored. We have to be peacemakers! When we are not living in peace with each other the body of Christ will not function the way God designed it to function. When that happens, the work of the kingdom of Christ will go undone! It is important that we learn to serve and minister to each other by putting every effort into keeping the peace because it is an evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in our church. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)