Being Like-Minded

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,

Romans 15:5

In the previous verse, Paul wrote that the Scriptures written in former days are intended to be a source of encouragement and hope for modern Christians. Now he offers a prayer to the God of endurance, patience, and encouragement. To the God who lifts us up, holds our hand, and keeps us going.

Our God is a God of patience, and we ought to be like Him, but sometimes we are in such a hurry and God seems to work too slowly for us. Often the purposes of God seem to be delayed, but they are always fulfilled. God’s delays are not His denials; sometimes they teach us the powerful lesson and meaning of patience and faith.

God wants us to operate under the quality of being “like-minded” toward other believers. The unity here is not organizational unity or conformity to false teaching. It is not necessary that every believer or every church look alike. We can never reach true accord until we have the mind of Christ. The “like-minded” attitude does not relate to doctrine but to our relationship to other Christians. It will not degrade us to take a place of equality in Christ among fellow believers.

Our unity is oneness of attitude, not structure. We do not have to have total agreement in opinion, but just in fundamentals. The pursuit of unity should never be at the cost of truth. True unity does not come by organization or systems but by what we have in common in Christ.