I know it broke her heart. I know it broke her heart to see her boys at odds. God had given her just two sons and from infancy to adulthood they were at odds. They were not like some brothers who have spats and then make up or who struggle with one another but still share a fraternal kind of love. No, these two genuinely hated each other. They resented one another and fought constantly. When their mother drew near to her final days, it grieved her to know that after her funeral they would go their separate ways and the family tie would be forever broken.
There is something so tragic about this kind of discord between siblings. The family unit is meant to be united by all it shares and all it holds in common. It is heartbreaking to see it disrupted by anger, spite, envy, or any other factor. Parents are especially distressed to see their children fall out and break apart. Many parents, even as they’ve experienced the aches, pains, and challenges of old age, have had this sorrow added to the rest—this sorrow that is far greater than the rest.
We know what it is to listen to music that is discordant, instruments that are out of tune, singers that are not in harmony. We know what it is to have our ears offended by what is supposed to be melodious but is actually irritating. We know what it is, then, to see relationships that are discordant, out of tune, and inharmonious. We know how difficult it is to be in a state of enmity with a friend or to be at odds with a spouse. We know how our hearts are grieved when love gives way to anger and friendship gives way to strife.
We should be able to easily understand, then, how much it grieves the heart of God when his children are disunited, when they bicker and quarrel, and when they go their separate ways. Conversely, we should be able to easily understand how much it delights the heart of God when his children are united, when they love and respect one another, and when they go their way together. We should be able to easily understand how important it is that we do our utmost to “love one another with brotherly affection,” to “live in harmony with one another,” and to “live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:10; 12:16; 12:18). If for no other reason, those two boys ought to have reconciled for the sake of their mother—for the sake of her joy, her peace, her well-being. And we as Christians ought to pursue every avenue of unity for the sake of our Father—for the sake of his joy, the obedience to his demands, and the accomplishing of his purposes.
And we as Christians ought to pursue every avenue of unity for the sake of our Father.Share
Those who attend the orchestra will know that before a performance begins, the lead oboist plays a long, sustained “A.” All the other musicians listen attentively, then precisely tune their instruments to his. Soon every instrument is playing the same note and the same pitch. In much that way, Christ is the lead musician who gives us our note, who gives us our pitch. Each one of us is under obligation to tune ourselves to him, for he shows us the way to live, the way to love, the way to bless. The degree to which we tune ourselves to him is the degree to which we will love one another. The degree to which we carefully imitate him is the degree to which we will be beautiful, harmonious, and united in purpose and action.
There is never any justification for grieving the heart of our Father the way those boys grieved the heart of their mother. There is never any situation in which we can allow ourselves to be complacent about our lack of harmony. Every day and in every way, we are called to display our love for God through our love for one another, to “have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1 Peter 3:8). May God make it so.
Inspired in part by the works of J.R. Miller

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Stephen writes about the uniqueness of Christian forgiveness. “Whatever the post-Christian future looks like, one thing is for certain, it would look less forgiving. Here we were thinking that if we got rid of the vengeful, judgey, judgey God-thing, we would become a culture of harmony and acceptance. Turns out all we did was outsource the vengeance to ourselves.”

Justin explains how to make the best decisions (even though they’ll also inevitably be imperfect decisions).

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“If the King of kings, the eternal ruler of Heaven, put up a job listing to become one of his ambassadors, what requirements would you expect it to include? If the application process was anything like the way our nations work, it would probably have a lot to do with who you know personally, who owes you a favour, and how well-connected your family is.”

This is an interesting look at some of the emotions that can hide beneath your expressions of anger.

Glen Scrivener: “In evangelistic terms, low tide means we cannot drift toward faith. Like it or not, when the tide is going out, simply to be a Christian means to go against the flow. And to embrace Christianity becomes a conscious journey. But it’s a journey that makes sense. The connection holds, and as you walk the path you’ll own it for yourself. At that point, you might just say, ‘Jesus is right!’—and mean it in ways that high-tide ‘drifters’ never could.”

Here’s a short but powerful reminder that the local church is to be a community of gratitude.

We will know that though we dropped our anchor into the depths of an ocean whose bottom we could not see, it fastened securely to the rock.

We have plenty of troubles and trials, and if we like to fret over them, we can always do that; but, then, we have far more joys than troubles, so our songs should exceed our sighs.
—C.H. Spurgeon

There are few things in life more shameful than sleeping when you ought to be working, or slacking off when you ought to be diligent. When your calling is to be active, it is inappropriate and even sinful to remain passive. This is especially true when it comes to contexts that are of the highest importance and the greatest urgency.

I sometimes wonder if the closing paragraph of Romans 13 is one of those sections we tend to overlook a little bit. It’s sandwiched between controversial passages that receive a great deal of attention—one explaining how Christians are to relate to civil government and one explaining how Christians are to behave when they disagree on the kind of freedom the gospel brings.
In the middle of these two passages we find Paul sounding a kind of alarm and urging Christians to understand and respond appropriately to the context we live in. “You know the time,” he says, “that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand.”
“You know the time,” he says. He means that we know the context we have been called to live in. It’s a context in which Christ has ascended but not yet returned. His Commission has been given but not yet been rescinded or completed. Hence it is a context in which we have sacred duties to fulfill. There is a certain kind of life God calls us to live here and now. The alarm bell rings to wake us, to stir us, to provoke us to consider whether we are living in the way God has commanded us.
To convey this sense of urgency, Paul offers a little illustration. “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” We are meant to imagine that we have endured a long night, but finally daytime is almost here. And when the day comes, so will the end, for when the sun breaks across the sky, Christ will return. And already the sky is beginning to brighten and the first birds are beginning to stir. This means that the time is short. There is a sense of urgency—a sense of “now or never.”
So what is this urgent task? What is it that God means for us to do? By looking at the immediate context we can see that the task is love—to love others in the way Christ has loved us. “Love one another with brotherly affection … Outdo one another in showing honor … Owe no one anything, except to love each other … Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” In other words, we are to believe and internalize all the glorious doctrine that has been taught in the book of Romans, and to apply it to loving other people. The gospel calls us to love with all the fervency with which Christ loved us. We are to make it the goal of our lives to bring glory to God by doing good to the people he has made in his image. A life committed to the doctrine of Romans is a life marked by love.
Is that the life you’re living? Are you committing your time, your talents, your energy, your enthusiasm, your creativity, your everything to loving others? Can you say that you are fully awake to this urgent, now-or-never task of loving your neighbor as yourself?
“Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed,” Paul says. It’s like he wants you to imagine a timeline with the day you came to Christ on one side and your own death or Christ’s return on the other. You may not know how much time remains before the end, but you do know how much time has elapsed since you became a Christian. And Paul prompts you to consider: What you have done with that time? How you have used it? How have you stewarded it?

There are few things in life more shameful than sleeping when you ought to be working, or slacking off when you ought to be diligent. And right now, he says, is the time for work, the time for diligence, the time for love. He asks you: Is that the way you’re living your life?