There are three ways of dealing with difference: domination, compromise, and integration. By domination only one side gets what it wants; by compromise neither side gets what it wants; by integration we find a way by which both sides may get what they wish.
Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933, American author)
Romans 12:16-17
Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. (HCSB)
Paul in his letter to Laodicea, speaks of his desire for their growth, he wants them to be able to grasp the mystery, but his prayer is for them to seek this together. In Col 2:2-3 Paul says, “I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding, and have the knowledge of God’s mystery Christ. In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.”
So it seems to me that God did not really want any of us to become individual spiritual gurus that sit on a hill alone. He has arranged it so that the best things we can receive, we must seek and achieve together. It’s amazing to me the petty things that we let enter relationships within the church. We think them small and inconsequential, when it fact they are the wedges being driven between us and the “mystery” of Christ.
We really like to have everything our way. We have become locked up in our comfortable castles, happy and alone with all the things we like. Relationships require something though, and they are necessary in order for us to achieve for Christ His goals in this world. We can only do it together. If Christians can’t cooperate, then who can? Pleasure usually takes the form of me and now, but real joy is us and always…God Bless.
Pastor William
Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933, American author)
Romans 12:16-17
Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. (HCSB)
Paul in his letter to Laodicea, speaks of his desire for their growth, he wants them to be able to grasp the mystery, but his prayer is for them to seek this together. In Col 2:2-3 Paul says, “I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding, and have the knowledge of God’s mystery Christ. In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.”
So it seems to me that God did not really want any of us to become individual spiritual gurus that sit on a hill alone. He has arranged it so that the best things we can receive, we must seek and achieve together. It’s amazing to me the petty things that we let enter relationships within the church. We think them small and inconsequential, when it fact they are the wedges being driven between us and the “mystery” of Christ.
We really like to have everything our way. We have become locked up in our comfortable castles, happy and alone with all the things we like. Relationships require something though, and they are necessary in order for us to achieve for Christ His goals in this world. We can only do it together. If Christians can’t cooperate, then who can? Pleasure usually takes the form of me and now, but real joy is us and always…God Bless.
Pastor William
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