1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
The value of having Christian friends is having people to practice Christian relationships and attributes with. Both Peter and Paul encourage the people of God to treat the people of God with the love of Christ. As one pastor said, “If we can’t get it right in the family of God, we can’t get it right with the people outside the church.”
Imagine if someone visited your church and they witnessed divisiveness, bitterness, a lack of sympathy and empathy, etc. Do you think that person would come back? Not a chance. However, if they experience a culture of relationships that are living in harmony with one another, sympathetic, loving, compassionate and humble, there might be a good chance they would want to experience that again. The life of a Christian is attractive in a culture that is divided, judgmental, full of pride and a lack of compassion. When we show up and foster interactions and relationships that are opposite…people might be curious why we act the way we do. And when they do, we get to have a conversation that shares the heart of our faith in Jesus…his love for us.
But it’s not easy. We all have a sinful nature that wants to do the opposite of what the Spirit wants us to do. We need the help of God’s Spirit to exhibit these qualities. It’s quite a list:
- Live in harmony with one another. We may not always agree, but we won’t let it cause division. We will be willing to yield our opinion for the sake of maintaining harmony.
- Be sympathetic. People go through hard times. Our hearts lead us to listen, care, and serve in a time of need.
- Love as brothers. Family is there for each other. The depth of love moves beyond a superficial care to a deep concern.
- Be compassionate. Feel for others. Don’t minimize what they are going through or the feelings they are experiencing. Take time to listen, understand and care.
- Be humble. Pride is a tough thing to put away. We naturally want to be the most important, our ideas always heard, and our way always taken. But others interests must come before our own.
This is just Peter’s list…Paul adds this to the list
- Be kind. Kindness takes sacrifice. Helping someone may not be convenient, but it’s noticed.
- Be patient. Sometimes we have to wait for someone to understand, for something to happen, for someone to learn. Patience is a virtue.
- Forgive. How important forgiveness is to heal wounds caused by sin. Forgiveness gives up the right to get even and is interested in preserving the relationship more than getting even.
- Put on love. We love because Jesus first loved us. If we ever question how to show love, we simply go back to the love that God has shown to us.
It’s not easy, but that’s why we get to practice Christ’s love with our friends and Christian family. As we put Christ’s love into practice, it sets up an opportunity for our light to shine and people to notice. And when people notice, people ask and when people ask, we get the chance to share the reason for the hope we have. And when we share, the Spirit of God has the chance to work on another heart.
Apply: What attribute listed above is one you would like to work on with or within your Christian family?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for friends and Christian family to both experience and practice loving others like you have loved us. AMEN.