August 20, 2013

Romans 12:10 — Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;

We Christians aren’t very good at taking the Bible seriously enough. Oh, I grant that you might be one of the rare exceptions. If so, you’ll be gracious enough to forgive me! But the rest of you, perhaps you’ll share some of these thoughts with me, share the regrets and the hopes this verse (and those around it) inspires.
In Romans 12:9-13 Paul gives 12 simple rules for members of the Christian family to follow in their dealings with each other.
The heart of the matter is in this verse. The Greek translated as “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love” could as well have been translated “with brotherly love, love one another as though you were blood brothers”. Members of the Christian family, having the same Heavenly Father, should behave as children of the same earthly mother and father ought to behave to each other.
This is one of those “if only” verses. If only Christians would take this verse to heart. What would our churches be like if we each, in honor, preferred the other. See what my favorite William Barclay says about this verse:

We must give each other priority in honor. More than half the trouble that arises in churches concerns rights and privileges and prestige. Someone has not been given his or her place; someone has been neglected or unthanked. The mark of the truly Christian man or woman has always been humility.

Is his comment about the trouble in churches right, do you think? I think it is. I am blessed to worship in a church that, by and large, is blessed by a very sweet spirit — but even there I think I have sometimes seen small signs of one claiming the right to be before another …
How does it look, do you suppose, to those who are not in the family if we brothers and sisters sometimes scratch at one another? There is some of that regret I mentioned. But oh the wonderful hope! How does it look, do you think, to the stranger when we all are taking this verse as seriously as we should? How would our love, each for the other, be multiplied? How would it spill over into the surrounding communities?
Humility — such a sweet, underrated, powerful virtue. I do not think that it is for nothing that Matthew 5:5 says “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek, the humble, inherit the earth for they see all it has to offer. The proud are so concerned with themselves that they do not see others, do not give preference to them, do not hold open the doors so that others may pass through … and they miss so much that Jesus has to offer. The Lord was actually quoting Psalm 37:11 which declared that the meek shall delight themselves in peace.
If you are like me, and sometimes find yourself pushing forward instead of putting your brothers in front, how about stepping back and watching others go ahead.
Let’s try to fill a source of love, peace and blessing and watch it overflow all around us!