Getting Along

By Matt

I read: Romans 14-15

I think that one of the more vital lessons in all of Christianity is simply how to get along with other Christians. In youth ministry we see it come up frequently while preparing for and on mission trips or at conferences. Those situations put is in frequent and close contact with people we're used to seeing a few times a week. It can be a strange adjustment that is made all the stranger by the addition of even more people you don't know with different backgrounds and traditions. And when conflict starts to arise, as it always does, we're often faced with trying to extinguish the flames when we're better off not having let the kindling build up in the first place.

Paul puts this all together rather eloquently in Romans 14. He talks about how some Christians might differ on what to eat, some might choose to be carnivores and some might be vegetarians. Then, as he puts it, "But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help" (my emphasis).

I think this is so important. God does not ask us to be concerned with the vegetarian if we're the carnivore. If we're the vegetarian we don't need to be concerned with the carnivore. God holds us responsible for exactly one person: ourselves. When I focus more on how I can respond to the person who I disagree with than on how I can fix the person I disagree with, we're letting go of our attempt at control and acknowledging that God will do the needed work to fix them. Or, more likely, to fix us. It can be a hard decision to make, but as Paul tells us in Galatians, our responsibility is to do the "creative best" with our life. Not anyone else's.