Today’s Scripture: Romans 15:5-7

Page 949 in our guest Bibles.

We are told to see everyone as NICE and to

be NICE, but this is really a sinister slippery slope

toward taking no one in the least bit seriously. If we are

ONLY NICE, we do not truly appreciate the other’s uniqueness and potential

blessing in my life. We just walk by with a shallow smile, wave, and nod.

If we are ONLY NICE, we have yet to care for the

wholeness and well-being of the other. If we are

ONLY NICE, we take no interest in the story that has shaped their beauty, pain, and even ugliness.

And, to our great shock, we discover that no one knows our story either. Nor does it seem they care. Our world is left to us DESOLATE.

“We are NICE strangers, indifferent and tolerant from a

safe distance.”

BE DEVOTED to one another

LOVE one another

SERVE one another

ENCOURAGE one another

PRAY for one another

Our default mode should be

“we” instead of “me.”

“WELCOMEONE ANOTHER”

Romans 15:5-7

May the God of endurance andencouragement grant you to live insuch harmony with one another,in accord with Christ Jesus....

ROMANS 15:5

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray

also for those who will believe through their message, that all of them may be ONE...

Jesus of Nazareth John 17:20, 23 (NIV)

May they be brought to COMPLETE UNITY to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them

even as you have loved me.

Jesus of Nazareth John 17:20, 23 (NIV)

“Some bad behavior is an accurate

reflection of a belief, while other bad

behavior is such a CONTRADICTION of its belief that it is no reflection at all.”

May the God of endurance andencouragement grant you to live insuch harmony with one another,in accord with Christ Jesus....

ROMANS 15:5

...that together with one voice youmay glorify the God and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ.

ROMANS 15:6

It is one of the defining marks of our time that

God is now weightless. I do not mean by this that he is ethereal but

rather that he has become unimportant.

He rests upon the world so inconsequentially

as not to be noticeable.

Therefore welcome one anotheras Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

ROMANS 15:7

We graciously welcomeeach other because

Christ has graciously welcomed us.

Aim for true community, not cliques.1

We often surround ourselves with the people we most want to live with,

thus forming a club or clique, not a community. Anyone can form a club; it takes grace, shared vision, and hard work to form a community.

“ ”

~ Phillip Yancey

Practice true tolerance2

Max LucadoA Gentle Storm

Extend the very welcomeof Christ to one another

3

To be a community of light from which the

light of Christ will emanate we need to be INTENTIONAL in our relationships—to love the unlovely, forgive

the unforgivable, embrace the repulsive, include the awkward,

accept the weird.

It is in contexts such as these that sinners are transformed into disciples who obey

everything King Jesus has commanded.

Giandomenico Ricci: http://www.flickr.com/photos/89872081@N00/437450539/

Don Sutherland: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67832671@N00/8555297809/

flickr images courtesy of:

other:Photos.com: Balázs Åcsi / 153562559