Do we need to be compatible to get along?

Matthew 5:44“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

Romans 12:9-10Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

1 Thessalonians 5:13Live peacefully with each other.

Philippians 2:1-2Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

Not all people are compatible. Differing personalities or dissimilar interests can make it hard to like another person. However, the Bible is clear that you can get along with others without being compatible with them. Perhaps the best proof is in Jesus’s commandment to love the very people you are least compatible with—your enemies!

Philippians 4:2-3Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Even people who are compatible disagree. At one time, these two women worked well together to tell others about Christ, and then they apparently had a falling out that was causing so much trouble that Paul stepped in to encourage them to reconcile. The key is to work to settle the disagreement before it drives you and another apart.