romans.bible/romans-15-5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other the Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.-Romans 15:5-6
Paul tells us two very important things here. The first is that we are to have same attitude toward each other that Christ has towards us, and the second is that when we stand united with each other we give glory to God. What is Christ’s attitude towards us? Christ loved us enough to die for us, even though he knew that may of us would reject him. If we are to have the same attitude toward others as Christ has, then we must learn to love each other with the same love that Christ has for us. The Apostle John wrote these words about God’s love and Christ’s love for us in his first letter. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:7-12 NIV)
Now that we know to love one another just as Christ loved us, we come to the second important thing that Paul tells here in today’s passage. And that is when we stand united with each other we give glory and praise to God. In 1 John 4:12 John writes these words, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (NIV) What is John telling us here other than the obvious that we have never seen God? He is telling us that since no one has ever seen God that God is made known to people through the actions of his followers. Remember God loved you enough to send his son to die for you, and when you accept this free gift that God is giving you it begins to change your attitude towards others. Which in turn gives God the glory and praise that he so richly deserves, because God is the only one who can take a heart of stone and turn it into a heart of flesh. So remember this: go out and love each as Christ loved you because of the change that has happened in your heart through God’s power.