Brotherly Love

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, and excel in showing honor to others.

Romans 12:10

In our sermon series this month we are taking a deeper look at how love is used in the Scriptures.  This week, we will be looking at Brotherly Love.  In Greek, the word is Philadelphia.  (Phileo: means love, and Adelphia: means brother) This is a powerful word used in the Bible to describe the bond that ties all Christians together – regardless of who they are or where they came from. 

Recently, I started to think about all the different kinds of love.  Brotherly love, or love between peers, is very different from romantic love, or the love between a parent and a child.  All are incredibly important, but they are different.  Growing up, my peers could challenge and influence me in a way that no one else could.  It was my friends who made me want to get better grades and take harder classes.  My friends got me up a 5am to go running and work out.  My friends encouraged me to volunteer at church, and later in life, they even encouraged me to become a pastor.  Brotherly love has an incredible amount of power.  However, it can also become problematic.  As we become closer to a group of people, it becomes easy to see all the little things that annoy us.  It’s easy to become competitive and angry.  Now, deep down there is something incredibly powerful that can bind us together…  we just open our eyes and see it.

 

That’s the thing with brotherly love… It has the power challenge us, make us better, and bring us hope in the darkest situations.  However, as we work closely with others, we are going to get frustrated.  This week, I pray we may be able to share the love that is right in front of us.  We don’t always take the time to appreciate it, but it is always there.

Blessings!

PB