Read Romans 15

May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus! (vv5-6, MSG)

The church in Rome was full of Jewish Christ-followers as well as non-Jewish. In fact, one reason Paul wrote his Romans letter was to deal with some tension that had been mounting between them in the church. He knew they needed unity. The kind Jesus talked about in John 17.

The goal is for all (believers) to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them
In the same way you’ve loved me (Jn 17:22-23, MSG)

So as Paul begins to close his letter, he hits the topic of unity among Christ-followers with gusto. He writes of the strong looking after the weak and the neighbor looking to serve others rather than only himself. Paul even writes about the Jew and the Gentile working together in Christ to bring glorious praise to His name.

All the people of the earth will praise His name. Jews and Gentiles, weak and strong. Each person will have a part in bringing glory to the One all-deserving God. And Paul wanted to encourage the Christ-followers in the first-century church to work together in such a way that together they would glorify God in a most-beautiful way.

It’s one way God uses mankind for His glory — believers working together, living for His praise.

That means you and I, together, can bring a special kind of praise to God if we will work together with the single-minded purpose of bringing honor and glory to the One who deserves all praise.

Bria Wasson