V 7. Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.
Let’s digress for a couple of days to reflect on what this love of God means in practice, and how it might impact our own lives.
Regardless of our weakness and frequent failures in following Jesus, God has accepted us and still holds on to us as His children. He loves us and will never let go of us. His love has drawn us into His family and so we find ourselves under the joyful obligation of accepting and loving the rest of His family. He calls us to welcome one another, not merely to accept one another grudgingly.
I suspect that does not come naturally, but requires a certain amount of effort and even considerate planning. It may involve going out of our way to fit in with other people rather than expect them to always fit in with our plans.
Loving and welcoming requires flexibility in our lifestyles and a readiness to share our lives – and even our homes – as far as we possibly can.
That long period of Coronavirus lockdown not only isolated us, but actually weakened our fellowship links and it has not been easy to rebuild life together. We will struggle to discover the best patterns for our shared life, but find them we must. Love demands that we do hang in together – and God Himself will be honoured as we do!
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