Be of Kind-Mind!
“Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind but
associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” Romans 12:16
NASB
It’s easy to get caught
up in how the world operates. Especially now with the way social media lets
everyone have a voice. I am for having a voice. However, a lot of times, what
we see is not helpful or even cordial toward one another. A positive post that
is uplifting and edifying can be overlooked while a post that smears someone has
a million views and thousands of hateful comments. As believers, we are called
to be set apart from that and to be different with one another.
One thing God has made
clear to me through the course of my life is everything except redemption and
all that comes with receiving God’s gift of salvation is fleeting. If we are blessed
to see old age, the super-smart must contend with losing memories just as those
whom the culture labels as intellectually lacking. The well-to-do person who
looks down on those not in the financial position they are blessed to be in can
just as easily find their business in the toilet from one ill-timed decision,
or as many learned back when the economy tanked from circumstances beyond their
control. How the world chooses to be in these matters is on the world. How we as
believers are instructed to be is quite clear. We are to be of the same mind
toward one another!
Something about this
passage that would not let me alone, though, was that word lowly. I understand how it
can be taken today, but I had to look at what Paul meant by it. I was surprised
to find that it means to be brought low with grief, depressed, as well as those
that we encounter who are internally beaten down and come across as beneath everyone
they encounter. It ties in with what Fair-Weather Friends talks about and broadens
the scope of that to say, “Hey, don’t look down on those that are low
with grief, depressed, feel broken.” Here, we are told to be with them,
to associate with them.
This passage makes me
rethink some things, particularly what Christ would say to me if I were treating
the downcast as lepers to be avoided because they might suck the life out of my
joy. It also convicts me in other ways, especially in how I react to things that
people say. Who am I to come across as haughty? What about you? Where do you
see room for improvement? How can this passage be better applied to your life? How
can we be better about being of the same mind toward one another?
Until Next Time
God Bless
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