SECOND FIDDLE

'Love each other with genuine affection...' Romans 12:10

Putting others first is a basic pillar of Christian community. It's an instruction that's written time and time again in the New Testament. For example, 'Love from the centre of who you are; don't fake it ... Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle' (Rom. 12:10 TM). Loving those who buy you presents and laugh at your jokes is easy, but Jesus actually tells us to love those who look down on us and would scorn our attempts at friendship, too.

It's there in Matthew 5:44 - 'love your enemies'! So before you start casting aspersions, look at life from their point of view. You may need to simply accept that people come in all shapes and sizes, from all sorts of backgrounds, with all sorts of baggage. Again and again, Jesus met people that His fellow religious types had written off, but He didn't brush them aside - He had compassion on them. And it's His design for us as the Body of Christ that we do the same - with God's love planted deep in our soul, we trust that He will activate compassion within us, for those we wouldn't otherwise give a second thought.

What now? We're not saying that this will be easy. In fact, you'll probably need some help - perhaps in the form of memory-joggers that can remind you to live right. Making handy memory cards on Jesus' sermon on others-centred-living (aka, the Sermon On The Mount) could be useful to train yourself up. Why not make your own, or make some and swap with a friend?

written by Bob Gass