“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35 

Relationships are supposed to come easy, happen naturally, and cure all my personal needs, right? Ok… not quite. So why, then, do we so often live like it?

We’ve all experienced relationships that are incredibly hard, but at the same time incredibly rewarding. 

The truth is, relationships are something that Jesus calls us into, to THRIVE as His followers. 

"If one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” Colossians 3:13

"We talk glibly about forgiving when we have never been injured; when we are injured we know that it is not possible, apart from God’s grace, for one human being to forgive another” -Oswald Chambers

Nothing stops us in our tracks like forgiveness. Because of it we are both brought to our knees and lifted from despair. How come something so unmistakably central to the Gospel message and so unquestionably necessary to living in community seems at times so very impossible to do? 

Maybe because it is in fact, the very thing that is impossible for us to do on our own. 

The Collection of us Transformed by the Complete Work of Him

At work, at school and at play, we find ourselves surrounded by different collections of people. But what about those folks who sit behind us on Sunday morning, or are in our small group, or serve in kids church with us…how do we relate to those folks?  Moreover, how do we live, forgive and serve alongside the diverse collection of people that make up the parts of the body of Christ?