Finding Communion

When others are happy, you should be happy with them. And when others are sad, you should be sad too. Live together in peace with each other. Don’t be proud, but be willing to be friends with people who are not important to others. Don’t think of yourself as smarter than everyone else. (Romans 12:15-16)

Live together in peace. Good idea, but tough to actually execute. We might set out to live at peace with others, finding our attempts at 'peaceful living' are met with resistance from all sides. Try as we might, living 'at peace' with each other is just not possible unless Christ is brought into the center of the 'living'. When Christ is central in the relationship, there will still be difficulties, but there is a power beyond our human reasoning or fickle emotions that helps us to bring resolution to the issues. We need to be willing to listen to one another, but dare I say we also need to be able to hear one another. This is where Christ does his work - he helps us to look beyond the surface (what one displays on the outside) and hear beyond the words (the emotion behind what is said).

As Christ left this earth, he commissioned his disciples to continue his work of reconciling the world to him. In so doing, the disciples encouraged the believers to put away differences, focusing on the unity of the faith. Unity is only possible where God's peace dwells. Plain and simple - we cannot 'create' peace in our own efforts. We will find ourselves always trying to please people if we do. God isn't after 'people-pleasers' - he is after peacemakers. That means we let him guide our thoughts, words, and actions so that we find ways of being a blessing in the lives of others, regardless of their ability or willingness to return the blessing. That might rub a few the wrong way because we have the idea that if we 'do unto others as we would have them do unto us' that they are kind of 'obligated' to return the blessing. Unfortunately, there is no 'obligation' for them to be kind or loving in return.

Pride gets in the way of being peacemakers, doesn't it? We might not realize how much we feel we deserve better than we are getting, but when that attitude begins to creep into our hearts and minds, we are going to lean toward the 'expectation' of kindness and love. Instead of it being a willing exchange between us, there comes this sense of 'obligation'. Obligation leads to unmet expectations, and the hard feelings that follow can soon lead to bitter feelings. This is why God reminds us to share in each other's sorrows and happy times. When we commit together to 'share all things in common', we are putting down our pride and allowing others to get to know us as we are. In so doing, we are developing genuine community. We may not put all our resources in common like they did in the early church, but when we begin to mesh our lives one with another, focusing on Christ first in all we do, we soon find the communion Christ intends for his followers. Just sayin!