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Learn to Appreciate Your Differences Instead of Allowing Them to Divide You!
June 5, 2024
Hey Clawson Family!
Song:
Scripture:
Romans 14:1-4 New Living Translation
14 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. 3 Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? 5 In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. 6 Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God. 7 For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. 8 If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.
Proverbs 21:9 New Living Translation
9 It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.
Devotional:
The church has allowed differences to divide them probably better than any other entity in the world!
Don’t we allow the stupidest things to divide us? Apostle Paul saw this taking place in the church and in Romans 14 attempted to straighten us out, but I don’t think we have done a very good job listening.
He said believers were arguing over which day was the holy day. Which day should we worship on? And he says to choose a day and worship and honor God on it. But don’t argue about it.
Paul is saying appreciate your differences! At Clawson, we say that we celebrate our differences. If you like to dress up, awesome we love it, but if you like to dress down we love that too. If you don’t want to eat pork, that's great we respect and honor that decision! Our differences should not divide us, really they should make us more powerful because we can reach more people for Jesus the more different we are if we can be united.
Don’t allow your differences to divide you. We may think, “Well I am right!” We might be, we might not be right… but is it better to be right and divided or humble and united?
the enemy uses this tactic to plague and divide our marriages.
They say most people attract the opposite of what they are. What makes that super challenging is when we get tempted to use those differences to divide us instead of appreciating or even celebrating our differences and learning to use them for positive.
In your marriage, you have to learn to appreciate and celebrate your differences. If you do not, Satan will use them to divide you.
Journal:
Write down three ways you could be more of a servant in your
most important relationships.
Training:
Father,
Help us to always pursue godly relationships about “we” and not “me.” Holy Spirit, give us the strength to love the way You love us. Jesus, You sacrificed Your life for us. Teach us to lay down ourselves as godly partners.
Amen!
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