Romans 12:16-17 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
One difference that allowing Jesus to be both Savior and Lord of our lives is that we see the people around us different. Our hearts become filled with love. This love will move us to live in harmony with others. What gets in the way of harmony is pride, or being “haughty.” Being self prideful and feeling good about how awesome and superior we are makes it difficult to be around others for several reasons. On our side, we don’t want to associate with anyone who is lower than us. Cliques develop, even in churches. I have been interested to see different churches where people with wealth or power in society tend to hang around one another. They may have many of the same interests, like golfing or going to the lake, or whatever. They get caught up in their own little worlds and they forget the “lowly.” The lowly are people who do not have all of the earthly things that some people have. Just about everywhere in the world and in every church, there are different classes of people. This becomes more apparent as a church grows. Being wealthy is not necessarily bad because wealth can be a great tool for ministry and outreach. The problem is when wealth and position become barriers to community. Paul is encouraging and urging the Romans (and us by extension) to be humble. Don’t think of ourselves to highly but as people who have been forgiven and are in need of God’s mercy.
A humble heart will lead one also to have personal integrity and to do what is honorable. A proud person can too easily become hurt by others and seek to give revenge and to pay back with hurt, harm, or some evil action. Paul urges the readers to do what is honorable before other people. One of our strongest witnesses to unbelievers is how we respond to difficult situations, especially when someone makes us mad. We can react like the world around us, fight, belittle the other person (don’t we see that a lot in the news!!), or we can be humble and even seek to build up the person who has harmed us. The only way we can do that is through the transformation that Jesus Christ makes in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
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