Time and again, Paul chooses to look at the progress people have made and to focus on that. He knows they have a long way to go before they perfectly reflect Jesus Christ, but he chooses to focus on their virtues. He chooses to focus on how far they have come. He chooses to be satisfied.

It is a display of God’s wisdom that he binds us together in local church communities. We know it is a mark of his wisdom, yet sometimes it can feel so much like folly. Sometimes we grow weary of being around people who are sinful, who are selfish, who still have so far to go. In other words, sometimes we grow weary of being around people who are just like us. At times like these, we can benefit from a reminder of what God is doing in and through his people.

In the book of Romans, Paul identifies a problem within the church, an area that has the potential to split apart the congregation. He addresses it in chapters 14 and 15, then says this: “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another” (Romans 15:14). I love the superlative language Paul uses here. He indicates he is perfectly convinced that this church is perfectly full of goodness and perfectly full of knowledge and perfectly full of the ability to instruct one another in the perfect Word of God.

It’s obvious this can’t be completely true. These people are still alive so they don’t actually have full goodness and full knowledge. They aren’t fully able to help one another understand and obey God’s Word. So why does Paul act as if they are? Because he loves them and wants to encourage them. He isn’t flattering them; he’s expressing love and joy and confidence.

Paul shows us here and in many other places that there are two ways to look at other Christians. There are two ways for you to look at the people in your own local church—you can look at them by where they’ve come from or by where they still need to go. You can choose to focus on all the progress they’ve made, or you can choose to focus on all the progress they still need to make.

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