I just discovered it today. Romans 12:10 says, “be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” I’m sure I must have read that a thousand times in my life but today it jumped off the page at me.
It is a special characteristic of Christians in the church family. It explains the reason why there is such closeness in a New Testament based church: they are devoted to one another. They weep together. They laugh together. They struggle together. They pray together and they love it. Why? Because they are “devoted to one another.”
Perhaps it is easy to assume but difficult to actuate or incarnate. Some of you are thinking as you read this, “I would like to be a member of a church like that.”
To start with, you can’t be in a hurry and be devoted to one another. It takes time to get to know people, how they think and feel and what kind of life experiences they are having. It takes time to learn to trust another human being even if you haven’t had a lot of disappointments in your life.
Churches that empty out in 15 minutes after the service is over seldom experience devotion for one another. You see, you need time to bask in the after-glow of an hour of worship and then time to share your responses with the other people, not caring that the lines may be long at the restaurants.
But knowing that you are the object of another Christian’s devotion is a special encouragement. The world has always been a cold and lonely place and that feeling gets accentuated.
But, hey, in the new-birth experience with Jesus Christ all of that can change. You can become a part of the family of God where they are devoted to one another, including you. “Devoted to one another in love!” Wow!
“Father, we know that Satan likes to get us isolated and convince us that
nobody cares about us. Thanks for this strong barrier of family “devotion”.
Amen
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment