Accept One Another

4.  Accept One Another

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."  Romans 15:7

If we love one another and are at peace with one another...and devoted to one another....we will then "accept" others!  How are we to accept them?  

Just as Christ Jesus accepted us!  How was that?  With open arms....to come "just as we are!"
What a wonderful world it would be if we DID that!


Here is this verse and the context from The Message.  "So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God's purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:

   Then I'll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
   I'll sing to your name!
And this one:
   Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
   People of all nations, celebrate God!
   All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah's word:
   There's the root of our ancestor Jesse,
      breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
   Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!"