Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me." For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. (Rom 15:1-7)It’s seven verses near the very end of a 16-chapter letter written by Paul to a church he wasn’t particularly familiar with. The first 11 chapters are dense theology. Chapters 12-15 are mostly “orthopraxy”—how we should rightly act based on the theology he offered in the first 11 chapters. This text … is the end of that. He writes about offering our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1) and how that “living sacrifice” looks a lot like love (Rom 12:9; Rom 13:8). Love looks like submitting to the authority that God has given (Rom 13:1) and surrendering our personal rights to keep from tripping them up (Rom 14:13).
Here, then, is the idea. We are not to primarily concern ourselves with pleasing ourselves—like the world does. We are to please our neighbor for his good and his edification—a life lived outwardly rather than inwardly. Jesus is our example of that. He “emptied Himself” (Php 2:7). Do that. Those are our primary marching orders. Die to self (Rom 8:13). Pursue the best for others. Love that way.
The result, Paul says, is this thing he calls the “same mind.” Now, that’s not “think alike.” That’s thinking in the same direction. What direction? He doesn’t leave us to guess. It is to with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—in everything we do (1 Cor 10:31).
It’s not a complicated set of instructions. Give yourself as a living sacrifice. Don’t worry most about your own interests, but for others. Most of all, pursue love. Not that warm feeling, but the eager pursuit of what’s best for others. In that, “the God who gives perseverance and encouragement” will give you what you need, not by your special effort, but by His working in you.
I've been thinking lately of the different views on the "meaning of life", why are we here. The atheists I talked to said the meaning of life is to maximize their joy/happiness in this life. And yet, with that expectation also say that morality must include the well-being of others. Those two statements don't go together. But if our purpose for existence is to love God and to love our neighbor, morality has meaning and value. The humanist says that people are basically good, but the evidence shows that our default position is selfishness. It is only by God's mercy that we have any altruism at all.
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