Live in Harmony

In this season of Covid-19, it’s sometimes hard to find people living in harmony with their fellow man. I see people angry and living inwardly to the point they don’t care if they run people over with their grocery carts. Others are masked and just can’t see past that. It’s tough. I get it. But we have to try harder.

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

This section of Romans 12, verses 9-21, is what I refer to as “The Christian Playbook”. The ESV’s heading for this section is “Marks of the True Christian”. The NKJV calls it “Behave Like a Christian”. I think all of those are fitting.

In this verse, the very first thing we should focus on is living “in harmony with one another.” This doesn’t mean you have to go and make friends with everyone around you, buying them coffee or hot chocolate on a cold winter night. Although that isn’t a bad idea, the first idea would just be to try and take note that there are other people around you. Act decent, fit them into your world, and don’t run them over in the grocery store.

Let’s also remember that we are not better than everyone around us. We are not superior, even as much as we want to be. And maybe there’s part of the problem. Everyone these days wants too much for themselves. Bring yourself down to ground zero.

While you’re at it, let’s “associate with the lowly.” What does that mean? I thought we were supposed to all be on the same level, and not be haughty. That’s right. Here the greek word Paul used is “tapeinos”, which means “not rising far from the ground”. In other words, associate yourself “not rising far from the ground.” We’re all lowly if you think about it.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Finally, we’re not be wise in our own sight. Yes, we can think about James 1:5 and ask God for an abundance of wisdom. We can think sober minded as we’re taught too in Galatians 5:1. But we are to remember that our wisdom comes from God. We’re not wiser than anyone else around us on our own.

Keep yourself in check and live the Christian life. This is only one small piece of the playbook, but an important piece of the playbook. Keep your ego in check, think about those around you, and let’s live in harmony with those around us, everywhere, all the time.