They have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. (Rom. 1:31)
Expanded Passage: Romans 1:28-32
“When people offend me, that’s it.”
“If you don’t agree with me about this, I don’t understand how you can call yourself a Christian.”
“We’ve tried it this way before, and it hasn’t worked.”
You’ve probably heard all of those unChristlike things from people who regularly show up in Christian spaces. Paul’s words in Romans 1:31 are written to describe hard-hearted people who were exposed to the gospel, but walked away. For Paul, the lack of these things was evidence of their hard-heartedness due to lack of attunement to the Spirit.
But Paul’s description could easily apply to the ways Christians in many churches treat one another during misunderstandings. Under the banner of Jesus Christ, we can treat one another in a way that curses instead of blesses.
In Paul’s day, as in ours, Christians’ way of living together in community was one of the distinct witnesses of discipleship—our churches, our small groups, and our families are all a beta-test of “on earth as it is in heaven.” This simply means that when we live in step with the Spirit, our ways of relating with each other will change.
Put simply: the best measurement of how you’re doing spiritually may not be how often you do devotions . . . The best measurement of how you’re doing spiritually may be how you’re loving the people around you.
Analyze how you’re doing spiritually by how you’re loving others.
Ethan Linder is the discipleship pastor at College Wesleyan Church (IN) and contributing editor for Education and Clergy Development of The Wesleyan Church.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
