House Rules in real life – the “Barrett Standard”

I consider this post to be a special treat.

Every Christ-following family has “house rules”. Those rules reflect the character and values of the parents, as they seek to be an example and raise their children up as other-centered lovers of people. God has given us “house rule” in His word for how He wants us, his children, to relate with one another. And while it is one thing to read and think theoretically about those “house rules” which are recorded in the bible, it is another thing altogether to see examples of what it takes to follow those principles lived out in real life.

One example that I’ve been aware of for a few years comes from the Brad & Annette Barrett family. They established a “house rule” for their family which gives us a look at how to practically put “brotherly love” into practice. I’ve heard the oldest two (Amy and Jenna) of their four daughters both refer to this particular practice as something positive in their life that has helped them learn to get along with people – even hard to love people. It must work – Amy and Jenna have now lived together almost an entire school year without bloodshed.

Here it is for you – in the words of Amy Barrett. Think about what she says. There is way too much drama and unfinished business floating around in our midst. In order to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”, we must make the tough-but-Christ-pleasing choice to resolve all of our conflicts in a timely fashion. Thank you, Amy, for sharing this with us.

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The “Barrett Standard”

Growing up with three sisters you can imagine that there was a lot of fighting. I fought constantly with my sister who is two years younger than I am. We were always arguing about something, taking something that wasn’t ours, or just picking a fight because we were bored.

Even now, when we are both out of our teen years and living together with a couple of roommates, we still fight. The coolest thing about our relationship is that even when we do fight, we know how to resolve it. We may be really mad at each other, but usually within ten minutes one of us has apologized to the other and asked for forgiveness. I don’t think we would do that if we hadn’t been trained early by our parents in conflict resolution.

My parents based their instruction on this verse: “Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam, so drop the matter before the dispute breaks out.” Proverbs 17:14

Any time we were fighting and took it to our parents they would ask us these questions:

1. Did you work it out peacefully?
2. Did you drop the matter?
3. Did you bring it to mom or dad?

The answers were usually “no,” so they would tell us to go back and choose one of the three options. We usually worked it out ourselves, because bringing it to our parents would usually mean that they would make us do something for our sister. They based this on Romans 12:21—“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

After we had resolved the issue we would have to choose something nice to do for our sister—doing one of her chores, letting her use something of yours, etc. The idea was that when you are serving someone and sacrificing for them it is a lot harder to be mad at them.

All these principles have been really important to me as I have grown up—I’ve learned that sitting on a problem doesn’t make it any better—you either need to work it out with that person, drop it, and/or bring it to God, and see what he would have you do.

Another great, but really hard, way to learn to love those people you don’t really like is to pray for their success and to serve them. I’ve seen my heart change for people—it’s hard to be mad at someone when you are praying that God will bless them and make them successful.

Those three little “rules” that my parents taught us growing up have been invaluable to me—they look different now than when I was six and fighting about a doll with my sister, but learning to resolve conflicts is one of our basic skills—and we need to know how to do it.

House Rule #3 – assume 100% responsibility

I find Romans 12:9-21 to be an incredibly challenging passage to try to live. It sets the bar so high. But honestly, would we expect anything less? Paul is describing how our Father wants us to view and treat each other in His family. He wants His family to be a reflection Him. He is perfect. He loves perfectly. I.e., the bar is high.

There is one verse in this passage that challenges me like no other. Honestly, I don’t like it; at least in my flesh I don’t. There are many things in this passage that I cherish greatly, and strive for. But there is one from which my flesh recoils — one that God has had to teach me the hard way. Vs. 18 . . .

“If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men”

On the surface, that may seem tame to you, but there are two phrases that make it not so. This phrase is the killer — “so far as it depends on you.” Notice that it is absolute. There are no conditions. Where’s the “if” clause? I could handle “do your part”, or “meet them halfway”, or even “be a really great guy and go more than halfway when you have to.” But that’s not what it says.

The older I get, the more I understand what it takes to maintain harmonious relationships with everyone. And the more I understand that, the more I realize that what God is asking me to do in this passage is amazingly huge. He’s asking me to do everything — absolutely everything — that I possibly can to be at peace with others — no matter whether it is my fault or not, fair or not, reasonable or not, no matter how the other person responds, no matter how they treat me, no matter what others looking on think. Love and unity matter to our Father. He does not want me to accept anything that gets in the way of that — anything. Obviously I cannot control the other person and make things right on their end, but that is not the issue. The issue is whether I’m doing everything on my end. He wants me to assume 100% of the responsibility for the quality of each of my relationships.

The second phrase in this verse is almost as bad as the first. The phrase I’m talking about is “all men.” Why not “most men?” Why not “everyone who is reasonable and willing to do their part?” Why not at least “all Christians?” We know the answer to this. Our Father loves all men. He extends His love and grace unconditionally to all men moment by moment throughout every day. He wants us to do the same. He wants His family to imitate Him. But let’s be honest. We find some people much harder to love than others. In fact, we find some of our brothers in God’s family downright annoying. They get under our skin. And then they don’t do anything (or not nearly enough) to resolve it. They go on as if nothing ever happened, or they make excuses, or they blame it all on us, or worst of all (in God’s eyes), they back away and leave the relationship in a damaged condition and are unwilling to do anything to bring reconciliation.

With people like that in the family of God, how are we to maintain an atmosphere of love and unity? Not to mention trying to be at peace with all those who are not part of God’s household? Here’s how. Are you ready for this?

House Rule #3 – assume 100% of the responsibility to have harmonious relationships with everyone else

“Bless those who curse you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep [even if you don’t want to]. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge . . . .”

That is heavy. It defies our definitions of “fair” and “just” and “reasonable.” But it does not defy a true definition of love. Love is God. Love is how He views and treats others. And this is exactly how He views and treats us. It is not a matter of us deserving it. He assumed 100% of the responsibility to mend His relationship with us. It is “unfair” to Him that He should have to do this. But then again, that’s just the point. He doesn’t have to. He wants to. The breach in our relationship with Him is entirely our fault, not His. He would be entirely just to stand at a distance and wait for us to humble ourselves and come to Him. But He does not. He humbles Himself, and comes 100% of the distance to us, and does everything that He possibly can to get us to enter back into a proper relationship with Him. If He had met us halfway, we’d still be lost. We would have no relationship with Him. But that was unacceptable to Him. So “as far at it depended on Him,” He made peace with each of us. And now He asks us to do the same for one another. Not because we deserve it. We do not. But because it is the way of love – it is His way – and we are His family. We are to imitate Him by putting our love and unity above fault and blame and pride.

This is definitely one of the keys to having a good marriage. This is one of the keys to being a good parent. This is one of the keys to having any long lasting, deep relationship. We are so good at making excuses, looking the other way and pretending nothing is wrong, waiting for the other person to act first, or putting conditions on it. I’ll talk to them again “as soon as they apologize,” or “when they admit what they did,” or “when they get over their problem,” or “when they start treating me the way that I want to be treated.” That is what our flesh says. And that is quite reasonable in the eyes of the world. But it is not the way of Christ. Clearly, the One who went to the cross, and then while hanging upon it, said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” was not waiting for us to make the first move, or to meet Him halfway, or even to make a move toward Him at all. He assumed 100% of the responsibility to try to have a harmonious relationship with each of us.

So I ask you, are you willing to do the same? Do you have any relationships which are not at 100%? Relationships where “stuff” has happened and has left things not quite right? You know what I mean. I’m not talking about what happened, or whose fault, or what’s fair. I’m talking about love, flowing from a humble heart, with an unwavering commitment to unity. Your flesh will say, “Well what about him/her?” “Why do I have to be the one to go 100% of the way.” “Why can’t I just wait for them to take some initiative?” Take your eyes off of the other person. It is not about them. Your Father is speaking to you. Look Him in the eye. He loves you. He’s asking you to love your brother.

This is the cost to preserve love and unity in any family comprised of imperfect people. Guess what? That includes us. It doesn’t just happen. Remember, “love covers a multitude of sins.” So put on love and be a peace maker in this family. We need you.

House Rule #2 – brotherly love

I recently joined the “Renovation” Rock ministry team. You can’t imagine how thrilled I was last Sunday (my first time to participate in the team meeting) to find that they were in the process of memorizing Romans 12:9-21. What an amazing passage for a ministry team to memorize and discuss and put into practice together. In my humble opinion, it is one of the core passages in the New Testament that lay out the “house rules” — i.e., the guidelines that Christ wants us to follow as we relate with each other in His household. I’ve studied this passage for years, I’ve taught it, and I’ve probably been more influenced by it than by any other when it comes to my expectations for how I should view and relate with others in the family of God.

This is one passage that we should all be familiar with. Just look at the first verse-and-a-half of this passage . . .

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love . . .”

Wow! Stop and think about that for a minute. Is that setting the bar high or what? Without hypocrisy, the real deal, no act, no show, no pretense – pure, undefiled love. That is easier said than done. What does love without hypocrisy look like?

(parenthetical note: If you want to study this passage for yourself, here’s the structure: 12:9 – the main theme – love without hypocrisy; 12:9 & 12:21 – the bookends (hate what is evil, cling to what is good); 12:10-13 – the good that we are to cling to; 12:14-20 – the evil that we are to hate)

12:9&21 give us the core of what pure love looks like — it hates what is evil (in relationships), and it clings to what is good (in relationships). In fact, it overcomes the evil in relationships with good. And what are those good things that genuine love clings to? Read vs. 10-13. And what are those evil things that unhypocritical love hates and overcomes? Read vs. 14-20.

But check out this next phrase. I’ve got to be honest. The image in this next phrase has marked me for life. From the moment that I first understood it, I realized that I was home. I did not have to look any further. God understood the deepest yearnings of my heart and had provided me with a true family to practice them with. Here is the phrase I’m talking about — “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” (NASB) That may be the single most powerful statement of the “House Rules” in the entire Bible. If you and I were to grasp this one concept and put it into practice, it would revolutionize all of our relationships with one another.

There is a powerful word picture in this phrase that is a little clouded in the English. Paul uses a Greek word in this sentence that is used nowhere else in the Bible. In fact, he combines two Greek words into one in order to make his point. The first is the word from which the city of Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love) gets its name. It literally refers to the committed love of brothers — you know — close family, nothing comes between us, together until the end. That in itself would be a powerful thing for Paul to tell us to emulate in the church. But he adds to it another word. The second word was used in secular Greek culture to refer to the tender affection which exists between close family members, like you see between a parent and child, or a mother and her baby, or any two family members who have strong feelings of affection for one another. The King James version of the bible may actually do the best job of translating this phrase when it says “be kindly affectioned to one another with brother love.” There are two critical elements here that mark all mature family love — (1) a permanent, uncompromising devotion to one another, and (2) a tender affection for one another. The absence of either leaves it lacking.

This is the paradigm that God gives us for our relationships with one another in His household. We are family — literally. We are brothers — literally. We’ve been adopted by the same Father. We have the same older Brother (Jesus). We’re going to spend eternity together in the same kingdom. And it is God’s will that we start acting like it now. He wants us to relate like an ideal family. What other kind of family would He have? Everyone wants to have a perfect family — an environment where there is unconditional acceptance, freedom to be who you are, no fear of being rejected, genuine love, free flowing affection. God has placed the yearning for such relationships in the heart of every person. You can see this in every small child. The church is meant to be exactly that — as close as you can get to an ideal family this side of heaven.

There are two central characteristics of this “brotherly love” in an ideal family that we are to have for one another. First, in God’s ideal family, the family members are totally committed to each other, and nothing can come between them. “We’re together come hell or higher water,” my grandmother used to say. Separation is out of the question. No problem is too big. No conflict is too major. Second, in God’s ideal family, the affection flows. Family members realize that they belong to each other, and they enjoy each other. There is a playfulness, a tenderness, a kindness, an intentional demonstration of “I like you” and “I love you” that cannot be missed. It is both verbal and physical (in only wholesome and appropriate ways, of course, because love hates evil).

Here is House Rule #2 – be devoted to one another and tenderly affectionate to one another just like close brothers, because you are.

It is to our shame that this is not what the church of Jesus Christ is usually known for today. So many people who claim to follow Christ are very worldly in their commitment to His family. Too often, our commitment to one another lasts only as long as we agree and get along. Too often our affection for one another is limited to begin with and turns downright cold at the slightest provocation. Brothers, this should not be. This ought to be our trademark.

Are you devoted to God’s family? Are you committed to the specific local church that you are a part of? Let me be more blunt and specific with you. Is there anyone (and I mean anyone) in that group that you are not committed to? Anyone that you wish would just leave? Anyone that you wish you wouldn’t have to be around, deal with, face, try to be nice to? We all can struggle with that at times (out of our selfishness), but it should not be a state in which you or I remain. If you are in that state at this time, it’s time to repent. By separating yourself from a brother, do you realize what you are doing? Do you think it pleases the Father to have His children not get along? Do you think He is training us to mistreat one another? Do you think He would even listen to us if we approached Him about voting one of His kids off of the island? We’re His kids. He’s adopted each of us. He paid the same price for each one of us — Jesus’ death on the cross. He is totally devoted to us. We don’t have the right to not be devoted to one another. If anyone has the right to disown anyone in the family of God, it is the oldest brother — Jesus. We are all misfits compare with Him. Yet He not only welcomes each of us with loving arms, but He has gone out of His way to serve us and sacrifice for us without conditions. He’s our example. In this family, everyone belongs . . . period.

Are you affectionate toward your brothers in Christ? You’ve may have heard it said, “I know I have to love him, but I don’t have to like him.” Wrong! You won’t find that in the Bible. In this passage, we are commanded to demonstrate the tender affection of close family members. Look at Jesus. Look at His tender, kind, affectionate manner. He’s our example. So let me be blunt again? Do you like the members of your church family? Is there anyone (and I mean anyone) that you simply do not like. Is there anyone that you are not warm and kind and affectionate toward? You won’t always have warm feelings toward all of them, but don’t let that stop you. Your feelings follow your thoughts and your actions. If your thoughts and actions towards your brothers are loving, your feelings will follow. If you are harming the family dynamic by disliking or being cold toward a brother, it’s time to repent. Do you think it pleases the Father for us to not like each other? Do you think He is training us to be cold to one another? May it never be! He is tenderly in love with each of us, and He wants us to view and treat each other the way that He does. He wants us to imitate Him. We don’t have the right to dislike each other, to stand aloof from one another — not in God’s family.

House Rule #2 in God’s household – love each other like true brothers — the tender, affectionate, uncompromisingly devoted love of close brothers.

It’s a tall order, my brothers. But walking together in Christ, with the power of the Spirit inside of us, it is a goal we can aspire to and make progress toward. We should settle for nothing less.

House Rule #1 – step down from the pedestal

I have a question for you. If you were to write a short description of how we ought to relate with one another in Christ’s family, where would you start? What do you consider the starting point for Christ-like love? Where does “love without hypocrisy” begin in a person’s life?

Our Master has not left us to have to figure this our for ourselves. First He gave us His own perfect life as the example to follow — “A new commandment I give to you. Love one another as I have loved You.” (John 13:34) And second, He had His apostles provide us with lots of clear, specific instructions in their letters to the churches. In their letters to us, the apostles have defined the “house rules” for the family of God. Every household has rules. God’s family is no different. He has standards for how He expects us to relate with one another in His household (which is what we are). If we are going to truly follow Jesus by doing what He says, we must familiarize ourselves with these instructions.

Perhaps the two most significant passages (in their sheer breadth) in the New Testament regarding
the “house rules” are Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. They both give us the big picture of “why”, and they get very specific in telling us “how”. These are two passages that every Christ-follower ought to be intimately familiar with. Both contain a lot of individual instructions, none of which are prioritized above any other. The implication seems to be that they are all important. The absence of any one of them leaves our love for one another lacking — incomplete.

One thing that I find fascinating about these passages is that they both start with the same instruction. Paul doesn’t tell us that it is the most important instruction, but he lists it first in each passage. I am, therefore, calling it “house rule #1”. Not because it is most important, but because it is the one that Paul gives us first. That must be significant. After calling on the believers to give themselves completely to live in a manner worthy of their calling (Rom 12:1-2, Eph 4:1), Paul says . . .

“I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think” (in Romans 12:3), and more succinctly “With all humility . . . .” (Ephesians 4:2)

Think about that . . . . Is that where you would start explaining to people how to truly love others? As he is about to launch into an amazingly beautiful and detailed description of how God intends for His household to view and relate with one another, this is where He starts — be completely humble. Don’t be proud. Have an accurate view of yourself. Don’t be full of yourself. Remove yourself from the pedestal.

The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. What so often gets in the way of our willingness to do what it takes to love others? Ourselves! What I want. What I think I deserve. My comfort. My pleasure. Why do we so easily get upset with one another? I don’t deserve to be treated that way! You can’t do that to me, say that about me, displease me, get in my way of what I want! My opinions are right, my perceptions are right, my assumptions are right, my interpretation of all that has occurred between us is right, my understanding of your motives is right. We are so proud. We are so full of ourselves. It is at the very heart of our sin against God, and yes, it is also at the very heart of our sin against one another. We have placed ourselves on a pedestal, and everything in our little worlds revolves around us.

This is House Rule #1 in the family of Christ. I’ve got to step down off of the pedestal. It is not about me. It’s about Christ. We are His body. It’s not about my rights. I have none. It’s not about what I deserve. That has already been settled at the cross, thank God, or I’d be in hell right now. It’s not about what I want. It’s about what my Master wants of me. It’s not about what I feel like, or what makes me comfortable. It’s about what my Master feels and what pleases Him. And here is what He wants me to do — He wants me to love you.

I do not know if it is the starting point, but I am convinced that it is awfully close. How successful we are at loving one another as Christ loves us depends to a large degree on how much we are willing to humble ourselves. Think about it . . . if I take myself out of the picture, I can love you now matter what happens, and no matter how you respond. By this one trait alone, we would mark ourselves as a people that the rest of the world would be shocked by — true humility. Look at Christ — our perfect model of this. He emptied Himself. And because He rid Himself of His own rights, and agenda, and deservedness, He was free to do exactly what His Father asked Him to, completely, and without reservation. He was love in action. He took Himself out of the picture, and if we are to follow in His footsteps, we must do the same.

So ask yourself the question — how much of my life revolves around me? In my relationships with others, how much of what I do and do not do revolves around how they treat me, how they do at giving me what I want, how fun/pleasant/satisfying it is to me, how it feels to me, how comfortable it is for me, how far I should have to go, how much it costs me, whether it is fair to me, what others might think of me?

Who is on your pedestal? Christ stepped down off of His to love you. Are you willing to do the same to love your brothers and sisters in Christ?

A sincere call to a renewed practice of the “House Rules”

To my brothers and sisters at the Rock –

I want you to imagine that before you graduated high school, you and your father worked out a plan for your future. Over time, the plan has changed as the Lord has moved in your heart and called you to higher things. Your father is immensely proud of you. You’ve decided to devote the rest of your life to serving the Lord, and you are trusting Him to lead you. You and your father have been executing your plan together, and the Lord is leading and confirming, and you are seeing things come together in neat ways, and it is starting to get exciting.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Now I want you to imagine that others are watching this take place from the outside, and they do not know what is going on. As they watch, there are things that they don’t understand. But rather than asking you what is going on, they jump to conclusions, and they assume, and form negative judgments about you and your character. And then, not to stop there, they share those judgments with others and shake their heads and ask each other, “What is wrong with <fill in your name>?” Imagine further that you find out about this as people, who assume that the rumors are true, make statements in your presence (or that of your father), or in Emails to you, which basically say, “What is wrong with you and when are you going to get your act together?” The first few times, you just think “Where did that come from?” But after it happens again and again, it starts to hurt deeply as you realize that people are gossiping about you – people you consider to be your friends. Nobody comes to you to find out the truth. And worst of all, nobody stops the gossip, which just continues to swirl around and affect more and more people.

All of a sudden that doesn’t sound so good, does it? In fact, it sounds evil, doesn’t it? How would you feel if this were happening to you? What would you want someone else to do on your behalf?

You and I know that this type of behavior would be sin. It is not at all how Christ instructs those of us in His family to interact. He tells His followers that arrogance, judgments, gossip, slander, and idle chatter are not to be practiced or received by any of us in His household. No unwholesome word is to proceed from our mouths. We are to assume the best in one another. We are not to receive gossip, but rather stop it in its tracks and send the offender back to make it right with their victim. This is the way of Christ – the way of love. It is patient and kind. It is not jealous, does not brag, is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account suffered. It does not rejoice in sin, but it rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

This is not the main point of this posting, but just so that you know — I am the father that I introduced to you in the first paragraph. My special princess, Sarah, is the child. The details of the “imagine if” are all true. This incident is currently taking place in our midst. Some have been proud and judged things they did not understand about decisions that the Lord has led Sarah and I to make regarding her life. Others have naively received those judgments, swallowed that gossip, and shared in the slander. Still others heard this unwholesome talk going on and did not receive it, to their credit. But though they were aware that it was swirling around in the family, they chose to do nothing about it.

Now,to be sure, most knew nothing about it and many would have done something had they known. Had I not been part of this one incident, I’d have probably not known about it myself. And that is what makes what I say next even more important. This incident is not alone. Though it is recent, and it has prompted my writing this note, it is only one of several such occurrences that have been floating among us. In fact, I’m only telling you of it in order to give you a real-life example of what I’m talking about. I’ve been aware of several others, and have been involved in bringing an end to some of them. We have a problem. We have not established ourselves in a deep understanding of, and practice of, the “House Rules.” And because of that, this sort of thing is too easily tolerated by us.

When I say, “the house rules”, I’m referring to the instructions that Christ has given us for how He wants the members of His family to relate. This includes the attitudes we should have toward one another, the responsibilities that we should assume for one another, and the manner in which we should treat one another.

So what do we do about it? What are the house rules? There are too many to list here, to be sure. But the Scriptures inform us where to start:

1. Repent. Stop it . . . immediately. Ask the Spirit if you’ve been involved in judging another, if you’ve received gossip regarding another, or if you’ve let it happen in your presence without correcting it.
2. Make it right. If you’ve offended, make amends without delay. Go to the one harmed and apologize. Do what you can to heal the hurt and provide reassurance.
3. Shut it down. Don’t let it occur again in your presence. Determine that as far as it depends on you, this will not be allowed to happen again regarding any of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
4. Dedicate ourselves to understanding and practicing the “house rules”. The New Testament is full of principles that we are to practice as part of loving one another the way Christ does. We must master them. For instance — we are family, we are devoted to one another, we’re patient with each other, we put up with one another, we protect one another’s’ reputations and do not tolerate judgment, criticism, or gossip regarding one another . . .period. If anyone has a question or concern, they will either (1) dismiss it, or (2) take it directly to the one they have it with and settle it together.

“ . . . speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Look at the powerful image in this instruction the apostle Paul gives us. “speaking the truth in love”, “fitted and held together by [our relationships]”, each person doing his/her part, the body of Christ grows and builds itself up “in love.” How we treat one another as members of God’s household has to do with the very core of our identity as the church of Jesus Christ. These are issues that Paul and the other apostles spent a lot of time dealing with in the earliest days of the church. Jesus said the supernatural power of God is made visible in our midst through (1) our love for one another, and (2) our unity with one another in following Him. If we allow Satan to come and and separate us through worldly interaction with one another, we forfeit a central part of who we are and why we are here.

The purpose of this post is to use a current event, which is part of a larger pattern, to instruct us and call for a renewed devotion to practicing Christ’s “house rules.” We’ve been given a set of principles to live by in relationship with one another, and we must be unwilling to settle for anything less. It is time that we repent, my brothers and sisters, and no longer treat one another nor relate with one another the way that the world does. We used to be that way ourselves, and we could not help it. But now that we are in Christ, we’ve been washed, we’ve been justified, and we’re being transformed into Christ’s likeness. So let’s put off the old ways. They are no longer acceptable. Through the freedom we have in Christ, and the power we have in the Spirit, we can put on love.

Many of you already live by these principles, and are saying “Amen” right now. Good! Let’s instruct our brothers and sisters and assume the responsibility to help these practices permeate our community. And to our wonderful Savior and Master be any and all glory from the results.

If you have a concern about anything I’ve shared in this document, come share it with me face-to-face, my brother, my sister. We’ll work it out and maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace