Dr. Rick Mandl - November 2, 2020
Can't We All Just Get Along?
Devotional Manuscript: Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Message by Dr. Rick mandl, Monday November 2nd
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
Hey church family. Is it just me, or have any of the rest of you noticed that our nation appears to be a little more divided today than it has been in days gone by? The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article titled . . . "How Next-Door Neighbors With Opposing Political Views Stayed Friends." The article begins by saying, “We don’t see them as Democrats. They’re the Mitchells. We know they are the good people who live next door. We love them.”
In a country where 93 percent of us say civility is a problem, this story in the Wall Street Journal is good news. In this article we meet the Gates family, who are lifelong Republicans, and the Mitchells, who are lifelong Democrats. The two families are next-door neighbors in suburban Pittsburgh. The Gates home displays a Trump yard sign; The Mitchell home displays a Biden sign. But next to each there is another sign which says, “WE [HEART] THEM” with an arrow pointing to the other family’s home and “One Nation” inside the heart drawing. What is the key to such civility among families who disagree politically?
Each couple has three children, roughly the same ages. They share a love for hockey; the boys play on the same team. They gather for dinner together each Monday evening. As the Journal notes, “They don’t argue. They don’t label each other. They listen to each other’s perspective, look for common ground, and recognize that reasonable and good people can reach different conclusions.” Gillian Mitchell, age fourteen, says, “I’m not a voter, but I think people should be mature and not argue all the time or fight. Fighting just leads to more fighting.”
Their story is a good reminder of the fact that neighbors who oppose each other politically can still be friends. Yet as important as political peacemaking is, as followers of Jesus Christ we know that the ultimate key to peace is not political. The prophet Isaiah to God, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” NLT (Isaiah 26:3). Jesus, speaking to his disciples in John 16:33 NLT said to them, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
If you’re not experiencing the peace that Jesus came to give us, let me suggest three things that you can do:
#1 Ask your Lord to show you anything that is keeping you from “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7),
#2 Confess any sin or take any step he brings to mind.
#3 Because “Peace” is a fruit of the Spirit that God desires to see growing in each of us, ask Him to help grow that fruit in you.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
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