“Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.”
Romans 15:7 NLT
Another “each other” pops up in Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians. “Accept each other”, he writes. And he makes the point that the reason we have to do that is because Christ accepted us. The principle here is that Jesus showed us the way, and because of His example, we do likewise to others. When we think about it, Jesus chose and accepted a real motley crew of disciples. There were fishermen, a tax collector, a Zealot intent on liberating Israel by force, and others. Perhaps a good cross section of the ordinary people in Palestine at that time, and Jesus accepted them all. Incidentally, one thing that they all had in common was that they were all sinners.
Jesus told a story about the importance of extending God’s grace to others. We find the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18. A king called in the debts of one of his servants, who owed him a sum way beyond his capability of repaying. But just before his wife and children were sold into slavery to find the money for the debt, the servant begged the king to be patient with him and grant him time to make the repayment. But we read in Matthew 18:27, “Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt”. The relief that must have flowed over that servant! The gratitude that he must have felt. But unfortunately, he didn’t extend that forgiveness to another servant, who owed him money. Just a small sum. Nothing significant. But the servant ignored his debtor’s pleadings and we read in Matthew 18:30, “But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full”. The situation was fed back to the king, who became very angry. We read how the story ended in Matthew 18:32-35, “Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart””.
Of course, this story was to do with forgiveness. Christ has forgiven us of so much, a debt way beyond what we could ever repay. And in the same way He has accepted us, warts and all. We are a people who are very unattractive when viewed from a Heavenly setting. We sin our way through life, and yet a sinless God has forgiven us and accepted us through what Jesus did for us at Calvary.
The moral of the parable that Jesus told is that we should do to others what He has done for us. God has accepted us, so we must accept others. And Paul finished today’s verse with the thought that as accepting each other ripples through His church, God will receive all the glory. We’ll add to that our praise, and thanks, and worship, as well.
Dear God. Thank You for accepting us. And we pray for the strength to accept our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 