Brotherly and Sisterly Love

 

“We love because he first loved us.”

—1 John 4:19

Because I grew up as an an only adopted child of much older parents, I really don’t have any idea what it’s like to have brothers and sisters.

My wife of 47 years comes from a family of three girls and a boy. So, watching her family, I have observed over the years some familial interaction.

One time my wife opined that having a brother and two sisters meant there were at least three people in her life that would always be linked to her with a bond that was unchangeable. “No matter what might happen,” she said. “They will always be my brother and sisters.”

That is exactly the unbroken kind of bond God expects us to have with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re family. And, God expects us to love our family of “Christ’s-ones.”

The Apostle John addresses this very subject in 1 John 4:19-21:

We love because he first loved us.

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

You see, we don't really have a choice. We must love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We may not always approve of what they say or what they do. But, we must always love them—always.

 

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