"Come unto me and rest"

Read Romans 14

           One of the unique traits of the Christian Church is the diversity of its people.  This means that Christians have different opinions and understandings as God wills for their personal growth.  And that’s okay, as long as they don’t lead to hurtful, harmful criticism or complaining.  But when they do, seeds of discord and dissatisfaction are sown.

            Saint Paul says that what ever we do, do it to the Lord.  The problem is that there are so many people out there that would do it differently.  As humans we generally believe that there is only one way to do everything.  And that just happens to be our way of doing it, any other way is wrong.  When something is done not to our liking, we then criticize or complain about it to everyone who will listen.

            All people have their weaknesses and strong points according to the will of God and our own standing relationship with Him.  That doesn’t give us the license to spread unfair criticism and hurtful complaints.  If someone does something that bothers us and we can’t overlook it, we must go to that person and lovingly try to resolve the problem.  During this New Year let us strive to spread God’s loving-kindness, His mercy and His justice rather than our own complaints and criticism of others.