If peace were the paramount virtue of the Christian life, then it would be right to “go along to get along.” If maintaining peace was our highest virtue, we would refrain from saying anything that was confrontational or would be perceived as harsh no matter how necessary it is to say.
Unity is important for the church, but it is not ultimate. Truth is. I once had a man tell me that unity is the most important thing in a church, insinuating that it was permissible to lie to keep the peace. If unity is more important than truth, then one feels justified in being deceitful or underhanded to not rock the boat or cause controversy. Yes, God wants us to be unified as a church, but that unity is based on the foundation of the truth of God found in the pages of Scripture.
We know that no earthly blessings are permanent this side of eternity when all things will be made new, and the temporal will be made eternal.
Individually, the call is clear for the believer. When we are insulted, we are not to retaliate or allow bitterness to build up in our hearts. Instead, we are to pray for our persecutors and pray for them to repent and come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
A farmer could send his workers to go through the fields again and gather up all the harvest that they missed the first time. But the Lord instructs his people to leave the missed produce in the field so that the poor and sojourners could go through the fields and find food for themselves.
The New Testament uses the word hope in a different way. Hope is a confident assurance of a future reality. There is a certainty to biblical hope that undergirds our faith. The things that God has promised are absolutely certain to happen without question or a shred of doubt.
There is a paradox in the Christian life. On the one hand, we are to rest in the Lord but that does not mean inactivity. On the other hand, we are to fervently serve the Lord but that does not mean works righteousness. Both seem like a contradiction; how can you rest in the Lord when you are being active and how can you fervently serve the Lord without it turning into works righteousness?
Whether you are “outdoing one another in showing love,” or “honoring one another above yourself,” the meaning is clear. I think this is what made Jesus so attractive to so many sinful people. He was and is the God of the universe, Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Yet he was humble and focused on others.
We are to be lovers of what is good. We are to hold fast to it and not let go. We need to stick to it. This is the beginning of what genuine love looks like.
The bottom line is that if you are a believer God has given you spiritual gifts and he does not want them to lie dormant and unused. He has given you these gifts to glorify him by serving other believers in the church. When exercised properly, relying on the Holy Spirit’s power, it is not a duty or drudgery but a joy.
