Building people to be one takes deliberate effort. Building requires every part making a contribution to the whole (Eph. 4:16). It is not impossible. Growing to be one is a by-product of transformation. As each one seeks to attain a measure of the fullness of Christ, the by-product is one heart, soul and mind.
First, find the good in people. We must have eyes that look past the surface and see past the flaws of each other. While we cannot literally see the heart of another, we must strive to see their heart. Pay attention to the growth of one another. Find improvement in each other. Learn where people came from, that is their history, in order to appreciate where they are now. Find good in the times we assemble together. Let those times be times we are refreshed by each other. Everybody has something good we can notice.
Second, complement one another. When we look for the good in each other it is easier to find things we can compliment. Yes, there is much to compliment. Also, when we compliment it makes us feel much better about ourselves. So notice the flow. When we compliment the good in each other the person we complimented is encouraged. As we compliment another we are encouraged by what we did for another (2 Cor. 1:2-4). Instead of making the picture as bad as we can, make it as good as we can. Look for something you like. Now magnify those things. Be as uplifting as you can be. Tell others about the good in one another.
Third, be compassionate with one another. The word compassion is a compound word. It combines “com” or with, and “passion” or suffer. Passion in its purest sense, the willingness to suffer for what we love. Compassion enables us to feel with each other. The emphasis is not on “feel” but “with.” Compassion enables us to feel “with.” Therefore, we rejoice when another rejoices and we hurt, suffer, when another hurts. Compassion speaks of an intimate relationship with one another. Compassion binds us together. It is a bond not easily broken. Jesus is the ultimate “with” feeler. “This is My commandment, that you love and unselfishly seek the best for another, just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to lay down his own life for his friends“ (John. 15:12-13).
Building takes deliberate effort on the part of us all. Look at how to build up a church: “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).
Transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory. As we are transformed, we bring others with us. |
