Common Ground

²⁹Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:29-32

Leaders who are passionate about their people will work hard to follow this teaching.  I realize that, as people, we cannot do much of that by ourselves, but with the Holy Spirit in us, the passage says that we need to listen to Him.  “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit” means to me that I should listen to Him and follow His prompting.  Trust me, I don’t do that all the time either!

Reconciliation is a grace gift that God has given us.  It comes from Christ’s redemption to us.  He has reconciled us first, and that’s the grace He’s given us.  I can’t imagine that God, who’s alive and loves us, who created us, reconciled to us.  But then, I think the reason is just that!  He’s alive, He created us, He loves us.

If I make a computer program, or setup a network, I want it to be alive and working!  I don’t want viruses all over it and see it crawling to death.  I will do everything to get it back to the vibrant life it was, when it was born.  I think God has reason to bring us back to life.  Why?  Because He’s alive and wants the relationship.  We always want our loved ones around us, especially when we’re sick or have problems.  We want the relationship, we don’t want to be alone.  God wants us to hang out with Him!

Finding common ground among Christ’s body is an important task we MUST work on.  We can’t go around spreading rumors about each other, or work independently of each other.  Leaders need to wake up and realize that time is not on their side.  Life is short, people die everyday and leaders must hold each others’ hands and work together for the common ground, taking care of people and growing the Church.  The more leaders connect on the common ground, the less rumors will be out there.  People will be together on the same team, which will make community grow and trust will be born out of that.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.