How To Accept Others

"Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace." - Ephesians 4:2-3


I'm an idealist. I take everything for face value and have often been called näive. Honestly, I believe everyone should be able to get along, speak openly and understand one another and it's been super painful to realize that this isn't the case, especially within families. I was reading Ephesians one day and came across this verse above. I was so struck by the word "bear." Saint Paul says we have to bear with one another. Me, being an idealist, thought to myself, "why bear? They were Christians! They're supposed to love each other and everything is supposed to be great!"But obviously, it wasn't if Paul had to address this issue.

And I'm coming to realize that people will always have issues with others, no matter how much love there is. We are all different, and that's ok because it's the way God made us. Some of us are punctual, some of us are always late, but either way, God made us all in those ways. We, and I do this a lot, tend to judge and think that if something isn't my way, then the other person is wrong. I've learned I have to grow as a person and understand that I'm not right all the time and I need to stretch and accept others the way they are. That's why Paul says to bear, because there will always be issues, differences, misunderstandings, but at the end of the day, we need to work in peace to find a solution. We need to treat others with kindness and try our best to understand and accept others for who they are. We need to learn to bear with one another, even when they're not stretching for us.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, thank You for opening my eyes to my own injustices. Thank You for teaching me to understand that different isn't wrong and I'm not always right. I pray that You bring this deep understanding to others so that we may all treat one another with kindness and learn to bear with one another in peace. In Your Name we pray, amen.