What’s the Point?

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. It’s the first thing that came to mind when I sat down to write today’s devotional. For those who don’t recognize this, it is a typing practice sentence that was typed in high school, over and over again, to practice accuracy and speed. Out of context, someone might think I was implying that they are lazy like a dog, or that I am, and that in comparison, one of us might be considered quick like the fox. Or maybe that I happen to like foxes better than dogs? The point is context is important.

With that in mind, let’s consider the following bible verse, found in Romans 15:7. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Taken on its own, people might think its telling God’s people accept everyone in the church to sing God’s praise together, because Christ accepted our singing shortcomings, so should we accept other people’s attempts at singing!! Yeah, no, that’s not it. Let’s read Romans 15: 1–13, and discuss our insights after that. 

There’s a lot in there, but the main point here is that as we are blessed with God’s attitude towards people in general, his love, we use this perspective to be accepting of one another, united in our praising of God for the sake of the gentiles, aka, those who do not yet know God. The skinny version of this is they will know us by our love for one another. John 13:35 

Let’s sing together the following worship song, based on the original hymn, They’ll Know We Are Christians, and seriously consider the lyrics as we sing. 

They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love 

Verse 1 

We are one in the Spirit 

We are one in the Lord 

We are one in the Spirit 

We are one in the Lord 

And we pray that all unity 

May one day be restored 

Chorus 

And they’ll know we are Christians 

By our love by our love 

Yes they’ll know we are Christians 

By our love 

Verse 2 

We will walk with each other 

We will walk hand in hand 

We will walk with each other 

We will walk hand in hand 

And together we’ll spread the news 

That God is in our land 

Verse 3 

We will work with each other 

We will work side by side 

We will work with each other 

We will work side by side 

And we’ll guard human dignity 

And save human lives 

Verse 4 

All praise to the Father 

From whom all things come 

And all praise to Christ Jesus 

His only Son 

And all praise to the Spirit 

Who makes us one