Be At Peace

The sermon at church this morning was alright.  I was down at Josh's, and visiting his home church is always an experience.  The message was based on the benediction part of 1 Thessalonians 5.

After feeling uncomfortable while the pastor discussed practical ways in which the church could encourage him and other leaders, he talked about helping the feeble-minded (reading a great passage out of Pilgrim's Progress) and being at peace with the brethren.  Man, I got hit hard then.

I thought of all the Christians I don't like for stupid reasons.  Like I assume their motivation for actions isn't good.  Or some of the stuff they do isn't my style.  But that's not satisfactory, and certainly not Biblical.  Constantly, I forget the fact that others are made in God's image.  And I'm worse on Christians, because they should know better.

But I should be at peace with them.  Of course they're different.  I'm not Christ, or even Everyman, so why should all of them be what I think I should be.  Unique image-bearers.  Why shouldn't people be proud of the things they're good at, even if they're not things I care much about?  No matter what, I should be at peace with these folks, and ideally, I'll be loving them.