Accept One Another
by Rowland Croucher
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:7.
In the New Testament the Greek noun koinonia simply means 'sharing', and is translated variously as 'communion', 'communication', 'community', 'fellowship', 'partaking', 'contribution', etc. An ancient inscription put up by a husband in memory of his wife said: 'I shared all life with you, alone'. Thus 'fellowship' in New Testament usage is the sharing of something with others in a community,
not merely the act of associating with them. The outpoured Spirit had created a community that broke through the barriers of language, culture, race, sex - even possessions.
This new joy, and mutual love, emanated not from a Divine mandate, but from their high conception of being 'in fellowship'. It was nothing short of a miracle! These early Christians experienced a sense of oneness, unity, togetherness, unlike anything they had experienced before. People didn't just associate with a few 'cronies': Jesus said taxcollectors and other disreputable people did that. The foundation of koinonia is nothing less than the Incarnation: Jesus sharing his life with us.
So if you, Jesus, love the person in my life who is difficult for me to love, perhaps you can give me a dose of your divine love for them? Amen.
ACCEPTANCE AND REPENTANCE
Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again. John 8:11.
The Christian good news is about God's acceptance of us even before we change. He loves us unconditionally. This was essentially the difference between Jesus and the pharisees. Jesus 'accepted', loved people before they had changed, he loved them into change; the pharisees rejected people who were alien, sinners, until they had changed and mended their ways. With Jesus, acceptance preceded repentance, with the pharisees it was the other way around. So we are to accept one another, as God accepts us, as people who are made in his image, who are like him!
This does not mean we ignore or gloss over others' mistakes or sins: it does mean we will recognize their Godlikeness before we barge in to 'fix' things. Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery 'I do not condemn you' before he said 'Go and sin no more'. Jesus understood that
we need significant self-esteem, selfworth, before we will ever completely 'own' our sinfulness by repenting of it.
Help me, Lord, to live out the truth of the two proverbs:
'To understand all is to forgive all';
'If you can understand the other person you can stand them.' Amen.