“The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Gal.5:14-15).
“We know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away” (1Cor.13:9-10). Until then, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.” (Gal.5:6).
Dear Jesus, there are so many reasons I’m looking forward to life in the new heaven and new earth. In the top 5 are no longer partially knowing what your Word—the Bible, actually teaches; and finally being able to love one another as much as you love us. For right now, the best among us only knows partially and loves incompletely.
Surely, it must grieve you when we “bite and devour” one another in our theological differences. Robust dialogue is one thing; mean-spirited diatribe is quite another. Faithfully defending the Gospel is one thing; being arrogant and quarrelsome is never okay (2Tim.2:24). Have mercy on us, Lord; have mercy on me.
O for the Day when we will no longer label, dismiss, or marginalize one another—only because we don’t dot every Biblical “i” and cross every theological “t” the same way. Jesus, I’m not a betting person; but, theoretically, I bet we may apprehend only .07% of your beauty, 1.3% of the richness of Biblical theology, .02% of the wonder and mystery, intimacy and delights within the Trinity.
We have so much to be humble about—and we don’ realize it. We have so much for which to be grateful—yet we live with early, middle, and late onset Gospel-amnesia. Hallelujah, we’re not saved by being “right”; we’re saved by the gift of your righteousness (1Cor.1:30). Humble and gentle us, Jesus. So Very Amen.