Have you ever heard the expression, “Hard on the front end, easy on the back end; easy on the front end, hard on the back end!” There is so much practical wisdom in that statement!
When we are willing to make the hard decisions, take the tough actions up front, it tends to make things easier in the long run. If we take the quick and easy way out up front, many times it leads to heartache on the back end.
This is true in every area of life… our health, our finances, our child rearing, and our relationships. It really applies to how we get along in the Body of Christ, in our church relationships!
Jesus desires unity in His Church and has given us a clear roadmap to get there and stay there. It does require doing the “hard” thing on the front end, but the sweet harmony it brings on the back end is so worth the effort!
The “roadmap” can be found in the New Testament in the form of the “one anothers”. These are commands, not suggestions, that have been given to every follower of Christ. They tell us how to feel, act, and not act toward one another. Obeying them is not always easy, but it is the right thing to do.
I am taking a look at 33 of those “one anothers” on my Sharing Real Hope podcast, beginning with Podcast 173 through 176. They can be found at iTunes or on my ministry website, sharingrealhope.org. Click on the Podcast button to access them.
The overarching “one another” is obviously, love one another. It is repeated several times throughout the New Testatment. It is the divine, giving, self sacrificing love that Jesus displayed by coming from Heaven to earth to become a man, and by dying on a cross for our sin. What love that is! Jesus said to us “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:34
All the other commands, the “one anothers”, happen because we love like that. It is only possible as we yield ourselves to the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
It is not easy, but it is definitely worth it!! Take time to listen to those podcasts!