Love Like Family

On the one hand it is simple, because he says “Love one another with brotherly affection”. That’s simple right? Many of us grew up in a family with siblings and so we instantly know what it means to have affection for a sibling. We are to treat each other as family, because that is ultimately what we are. We are people, who by the virtue of our adoption into God’s family, have become brothers and sisters. Therefore we are to treat each other as family.

Simple.

But how well do we actually treat our family? Most people treat others far better than we treat our families. When a child visits a friend’s house for dinner, they are polite and say please and thank you and “oh that was delicious” even though they didn’t like it. When they are home, they say “Mum, not to be rude, but I didn’t really like the cheesy gloop you made”. (Actual quote…) The point is, we don’t often treat our families the best.

Part of the reason for this is that our families are meant to be safe places. We know we have to accept one another, we don’t actually have a choice in the matter, because we are bonded by blood. That is the hard part of being a Christian. You are bonded to every other believer by Jesus’ blood. It means we have no choice in the matter, we have to accept our brothers and sisters in Christ as our brothers and sisters. It doesn’t matter what they have done to us, whether we like them right now or not, or whether they are living up to the standard God requires of his people. They are blood, and so they need to be loved as such.

So how do we do it? How could we possibly love like this in a world that teaches us to look out for number one? To write off the people who stand in our way? To move on from other people once we fall “out of love” with them?

We do this by following Jesus. He lived out this kind of love perfectly. He showed us what it means to love others with a pure heart, putting their interests even above His own. When He washed His disciples’ feet, He was doing much more than cleaning off some dirt, He was showing the utmost honour to those around Him.

And if our Lord could do that, shouldn’t we also?

Prayer:

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Father in Heaven, thank you for the love that You have shown us through Jesus. Help us to grasp the depth of that love and let it overflow to those around us. Teach us to love our brothers and sisters with genuine affection and to compete only in showing honor to one another. Let Your Spirit guide us in this new way of living so that our relationships reflect Your love and grace. Amen.

Spiritual Challenge for the day:

Today, pick one person—maybe someone you’ve been having a tough time with or someone you just haven’t connected with in a while. Reach out to them with a simple act of kindness or a word of encouragement. Try to see them as a brother or sister, and ask yourself, “How can I show honor to this person today?” Let’s make this effort to transform our approach to relationships, one act of kindness at a time.