Romans 12:9-10 – “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them… Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other… 16 Live in harmony with each other… 18 Do all you can to live in peace with everyone.”
Lord Jesus, over the past three years, more people I know have passed away than in any previous three-year period of my 72-year-old life. The irony is, most of them have been younger than me. Cancer, COVID, car wrecks, “natural causes,” freakish accidents—the way Home has varied. I am so thankful you determine our days, and no one can snatch us from your hand.
What hurts was not getting to offer that last hug, share that last laugh, offer the overdue apology, and mend that old riff. Today’s passage, thought familiar to me, couldn’t be more timely. “Do all you can to live in peace with everyone.”
Jesus, when did bridge-building—a normal, healthy, Gospel-practice, atrophy/morph into wall-building? Granted, reconciliation takes two, but each of us can/must seek to be at peace with others—no matter their response.
I can’t imagine standing over another grave saying, “I’m so glad I nursed that grudge, fertilized that root of bitterness, and kept adding bricks and barbed wire to the wall between us.” Jesus, it was while (not after) we were sinners, you died for us (Romans 5:8). Grace isn’t a wage we earn, but a gift we freely receive—and then freely give.
You aren’t calling us to pretend, denial, or dishonesty. You are calling us to yourself. To love as you love us, and forgive as you have forgiven us. Help us Jesus, while it is still today. So Very Amen.