Concern In The Midst Of Conflict

"Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another." (Romans 12:10)
If there is one thing I am sure of in the 40 years in the pastoral ministry, is that the devil want us to be at odds with one another. If he can get us to be upset with one another, and be involved in a constant competition, and conflict, he is happy. He knows that when he accomplishes this, he hinders us from being the people God wants us to be, and accomplishing the work that God wants us to do. And its not in the dynamic ways that we attack each other, but it's in the little jabs of criticism, and the back-biting that in time erodes the unity we are to have. The Apostle Paul in our text, writes to the Christians at Rome and admonishes them to show "kindly affectionate to one another" It doesn't matter if you disagree on various matters, you should show that you love each other, in spite of your disagreements. Go out of your way to minister to one another, in spite of your differences. Just because we don't get our way, or people don't see things the way we do, does not give us cause to show a display of dislike, and even the extreme attitude of hate. Selfishness is so rampant in our society today, why does it have to crawl into the church and show it's ugly head? We are called to love one another, just as Christ loved us. (John 15:12) Where did we ever get the idea that this was an option? GP