How are You Getting on with Your Fellow Christians?
…are they totally frustrating…? Or is everything honky-dory?
How are you getting on with your fellow Christians?
I want to let you in on a secret: We are human (yes, even Christians are just human). And in fact, this means that we will also hurt each other… Perhaps completely unintentionally. And if we are hurt, many of us are wired in a way where we won’t approach the person to say something. Instead we tell everybody else…. who turns around and passes it on to yet others. And deep inside the person, bitterness and disappointment start to fester – which sometimes can end up resulting in anger against God.
If you have a Christian on your list that you don’t get along with, or with whom you’re always having to “fake it”, then I only have one thing to say: Pull yourself together and clear the air. Apologize, and then start to bless and LOVE the person you feel has stepped all over you.
…Oh, but if you just knew what that person did/said, you would never say that, Andreas. YES, I WOULD!! …because anger, unforgiveness, and bitterness actually binds you as well… And yes – you DO owe an apology for having been bitter without settling the problem…. And you know what? – if you don’t think it’s enough that Jesus died, not just for your sins, but for the other person’s sins as well, then you really need to think about it some more.
Jesus doesn’t want to see us angry with each other… He wants us to CARRY EACH OTHER FORWARD. He broke the power of DEATH…. If you want to be forgiven by Jesus or by others, you might want to forgive that person (or those people) you yourself have a problem with. That way YOU will be able to live in FREEDOM.
God forgives us as we forgive others!
Did you know that far too many people lost their faith because they were once hurt by another human being……. If you are one of them: Did you not understand what Jesus did for you on the cross? If you had truly understood, you would rejoice in the Lord and not allow yourself to be bothered over the fact that someone else failed you…. REMEMBER that Jesus NEVER fails. The only failure that happens is that WE fail to LISTEN to what He says, because we are preoccupied with our own needs….
Will you listen…? Or will you be upset and begrudge your fellow Christians or others….? I know what I’m going to choose…..
1. John 2:9-11
He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Andreas Slot-Henriksen
September 2016
