The Hardest Thing to Accept

I don't fully understand why, among Christians, we sometimes find ourselves in broken relationships that are truly and deeply broken. Usually one person is intractably, unmovably determined to not restore any sense of connection.

It would seem to me, that since we are new creations and submitted to Christ for obedience to his command to love one another deeply, that both should be willing, for Christ's sake if for nothing else, to at least acknowledge the other person's existence. I suspect that pride and self-righteousness are often part of the mix.

I know that Peter and Paul had at least one sharp disagreement and they went separate ways-likewise Paul and Barnabas. Maybe there were others, I don't remember. And if it happened among those who had actually seen the Christ, his chosen disciples, how much more should it happen to us.

Maybe we have lost touch with how steeped in sin we all are. Maybe we don't understand what sin is. Maybe it is something so hideous, so deceptive, so pervasive, that we are sometimes controlled by it even when we don't think we are controlled by it. Maybe the adversary uses our own sin against us in some ju jitsu fashion- causing us to think that we are reflecting the righteousness of the Son, when in reality we might be reflecting the character of the Father of Lies.

In eternity, when all is opened and revealed we, each of us, may find ourselves aghast and ashamed. Heaven help us- who will rescue us from this body of death? Thanks be to God for Christ Jesus, our Redeemer and our Righteousness!