“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” Romans 12:10 (NLT)
When my husband and I started a church in San Francisco, we moved away from all of our family. Our new church members became my children’s “family.” They were the “aunts, uncles and cousins” we craved in our life since our blood relatives lived so far away.
This is a picture of what I believe God’s original dream for the Church encompassed—a strong sense of family. God wants church to be a place where anyone can come and feel welcome, a place where close friendships can be cultivated and family can be formed.
In today’s Scripture verse from Romans, Paul is challenging us to love others with genuine affection and honor. So what does that mean?
It means we are to accept and connect with others without judgment.
It means we are to validate someone’s feelings, regardless of whether or not we understand them.
It means we are to be quick to extend an encouraging word and be mindful to not exclude anyone.
This is easier said than done, isn’t it? It’s difficult enough to love and accept our own relatives, much less people who aren’t actually a part of our family tree. Yet, Paul is instructing us to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ like family.
In family there is no room for grudge-holding, jealousy, isolation or divisive competition. The body of Christ works the same way.
I know the Church can let us down, because people let us down. At times, believers act just like the rest of the world, tainting the name of Christianity and making it easy to lose faith in other people. When this happens, the flesh makes its way into our thinking, and we can easily begin to justify our actions of revenge, jealousy and backstabbing.
But God wants something different for us—something better. God’s plan for us is to have covenant friendships. And one of the best places to discover covenant friendships with like-minded people is the local church. If you’re missing a relationship like this in your life, try reaching out and genuinely showing affection to others. Ask God to bring godly relationships into your life. He is faithful to bring us the right people at the right time.
DIGGING DEEPER:
- Evaluate your relationships and examine how often you are showing genuine affection for your friends. How can you improve?
- When was the last time you deliberately showed your friend how much you care? Take time to call or text your friend and tell them you’re thinking about them today.
- What is one way you can be a better friend to someone today?
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If you need prayer or you would like to talk with a K-LOVE Pastor, we are here to serve you. Call us at 844-364-4673 (hope).