RESPECT DON'T REJECT

'I try to find common ground with everyone.'

1 Corinthians 9:22 NLT

For any relationship to work, we must accept each other's differences. Within our family, we must respect each other's perspectives. We don't need to agree on every issue but we must always honour where the other person is coming from. Paul did that: 'I try to find common ground with everyone.' Some of us who claim to follow Christ have a hard time with views and values that differ from our own. We think 'compromise' is a dirty word. Some of us have turned from most immoral lives to faith in Christ; yet after our conversion we don't associate with anyone who doesn't agree with us and adopt our new found values. Sometimes our families fall apart because we try to force our opinion on the people we love and set  boundaries to keep nonconformist out. What a terrible misuse of Christianity! Jesus didn't condemn the people who crucified him; He prayed; 'Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.' (Luke 23:24 NKJV). He didn't view them as morally bad but spiritually blind. He told His disciples, 'No one can come to Me unless the Father...draws him.' (John 6:44). It's YOUR JOB TO LOVE PEOPLE and God's job to CHANGE THEM. So, STOP trying to do WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO! If you invest patiently into your relationships, respect other people's perspective, and sow good seed, you'll reap a pleasant harvest in the long term. Your LOVE, NOT THE FORCE OF YOUR ARGUMENT, can give hope to the most severely damaged among us, that there's healing for the broken places of the Human soul.