Broken Threads

Read Romans 12:18

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (NIV)

This is both a sobering and comforting verse. It says that we can’t guarantee to live peaceably with everyone else. It takes two to make a relationship. If someone rejects my offer of forgiveness or friendship, then I can’t force it on them. I can’t insist that others be my friends or be reconciled to me.

How sad and futile it is to bash our heads against a brick wall trying to repair a relationship and feel terribly responsible or even guilty when it doesn’t happen. We simply can’t mend every broken thread of every relationship. Not even God can do that. He offers peace and mercy but doesn’t impose it on us. He has to bear with countless broken relationships with those he loves and so he knows our pain when we do likewise.

The comfort of this verse is that we don’t have to burden ourselves with the responsibility of making everything right. We do what we can, we make every effort, but we can’t fix every relationship. We live in a world where not everything turns out the way we want it. Rather than throw a tantrum or be buried in false guilt, we do better to enter the Father heart of God. He really does know what it is like to have love rejected and friendship spurned. He whose heart is broken is close to all who are thus broken-hearted.

Blessings
David Reay