Listen

Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying. Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. Instead, associate with people who have no status. Don’t think that you’re so smart. Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good.

Romans 12:15-17

Think

These exhortations for the people of first-century Rome are for us, too. Getting along and living in harmony don’t always happen naturally. Most often it takes effort.

Jesus associated with a wide variety of people and didn’t treat anyone as second class. When we see discrimination or find ourselves treating someone as an outcast, we need to take steps to change the situation.

Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” We are to step up and do what is right. If we encounter evil actions, we are to step forward and effect the change that the world needs.

In order to be the change that we want to see in the world, the first change might be ours to make. Let us live in harmony so that we can be instruments of God’s work in the world. We have this passage from Romans to inspire us to take small steps to change ourselves, then our corner of God’s world, and finally, an ever-widening circle.

Gail Jackins

Pray

Lord, help me take steps to create more harmony in your world. Let it begin with me and spread further. Please let me be the change you want to see in the world. Thank you for the perfect harmony of God the creator, God the redeemer, and God the sustainer. Amen.

Go

Let’s put our love into action.

“They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

Peter Scholtes, “They’ll Know We Are Christians,” 1966