Romans 15: Are You an Encouragement?

 "¹ We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. ² We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. ...

 ⁵ May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. ⁶ Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 ⁷ Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory"

(Romans 15:1-2,5-7 NASB)

I sometimes find it really difficult to have the patience and perseverance to always "live in harmony" with those around me. Sometimes people really get on my nerves. Other times I genuinely disagree with them. It can be hard to help others "do what is right" and "build them up" in Christ. I mean, it's hard enough to just concentrate on my own spiritual well-being... never mind having to look after someone else's!

But this passage makes it clear. Looking out for #1 --even in spiritual matters-- is selfish. After all, what does it really matter if we have the best prayer life or devotional time if we don't use it to help others? How good of Christians can we possibly be if we are always pursuing our own interests and fighting with those around us?

People on the outside looking in often look disdainfully on Christians because of the amount of in-fighting that can occur in our churches. Just like any other institution involving people, our churches are still (sadly) prone to bickering, gossip, and grumbling. We speak poorly of our churchmates, we bicker over the small things, and we are never satisfied with how the church is run. 

In reality, however, this is not at all how a Christian church should be. If we truly were all led by the Holy Spirit 100% of the time, we would be of one mind in the Spirit and trekking onwards to the common goal of Salvation and spiritual nurturing of all people. We should be helping people become better Christians, rather than just fighting over logistics. We should pick people up, rather than push them away.

I don't know about you, but it is so easy for me to get lost within myself in regards to spiritual growth. I focus inwards, get lost in my own prayers, get fired up in my own worship... and I begin to shut the world out. It's so easy for me to try to reap all the inward benefits of my relationship with God, and forgo any outward expression of this inner change. It's so easy to get caught up in the institutionalized church and forget about the Community of Believers. We might be getting warm-fuzzies from the worship one minute, and criticizing a brother or sister in Christ in the next minute. This isn't right. 

We need to make sure we're keeping each other spiritually healthy for the glory of God. We're all part of one Body and being selfish and critical of others is no more helpful than using your left hand to put out cigarette butts on your right arm. Protecting one part of the body while harming another is not going to result in a Healthy Body. All parts must work together for a common edification.