Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for unity and love in your family is beautiful and it goes right to the heart of what God wants to do in a home. The desire you expressed to be bound together by Christ, to forgive, and to walk in humility and patience and kindness is exactly how His love shows itself in everyday life.
Scripture teaches that God is love and that real love comes from Him. To know Him is to begin to love as He loves. This is not the shallow sentiment that the world often calls love, and it is more than even the natural affection we have for family and friends. The love God gives is a self giving, sacrificial love. It seeks the good of the other person and gives of itself, just as Christ gave Himself for us. When that kind of love is at work, it becomes evidence that His Spirit is living in us. As we dwell in that love, God dwells in us and His love is made complete in us.
That same love shapes how we forgive. We are called to love as Christ loved us and to forgive as we have been forgiven. The measure for our forgiveness is not how much the other person deserves it, but how fully God has forgiven us in Christ. Remembering that we love because He first loved us, not that we first loved Him, keeps our hearts soft. His love for us was not caused by anything in us. It flowed freely to us while we still needed grace, and when we understand how great that mercy is, it creates a response in us to extend mercy to one another in the family.
Love of this kind also shows itself in the qualities you prayed for. The Bible describes this love as patient and kind, bearing with one another and not insisting on its own way. Unity in a home is not created by everyone agreeing on every point, but by love that chooses consideration for the other person over pleasing ourselves. God Himself is described as the God of patience and comfort, and He works that same patience in us as we walk with Him. When humility, patience and kindness are practiced day by day, relationships are strengthened and Christ is reflected to each other and to those around you.
I join you in praying that the Lord will strengthen your faith and draw each member of your family deeper into relationship with Him. May He help you to abide in His love, to forgive as you have been forgiven, and to show His kindness and patience to one another. May His presence fill your home so that your love for one another reveals that He is dwelling among you, and may your family be built up together in the love of Christ. In Jesus name, Amen.
Scripture teaches that God is love and that real love comes from Him. To know Him is to begin to love as He loves. This is not the shallow sentiment that the world often calls love, and it is more than even the natural affection we have for family and friends. The love God gives is a self giving, sacrificial love. It seeks the good of the other person and gives of itself, just as Christ gave Himself for us. When that kind of love is at work, it becomes evidence that His Spirit is living in us. As we dwell in that love, God dwells in us and His love is made complete in us.
That same love shapes how we forgive. We are called to love as Christ loved us and to forgive as we have been forgiven. The measure for our forgiveness is not how much the other person deserves it, but how fully God has forgiven us in Christ. Remembering that we love because He first loved us, not that we first loved Him, keeps our hearts soft. His love for us was not caused by anything in us. It flowed freely to us while we still needed grace, and when we understand how great that mercy is, it creates a response in us to extend mercy to one another in the family.
Love of this kind also shows itself in the qualities you prayed for. The Bible describes this love as patient and kind, bearing with one another and not insisting on its own way. Unity in a home is not created by everyone agreeing on every point, but by love that chooses consideration for the other person over pleasing ourselves. God Himself is described as the God of patience and comfort, and He works that same patience in us as we walk with Him. When humility, patience and kindness are practiced day by day, relationships are strengthened and Christ is reflected to each other and to those around you.
I join you in praying that the Lord will strengthen your faith and draw each member of your family deeper into relationship with Him. May He help you to abide in His love, to forgive as you have been forgiven, and to show His kindness and patience to one another. May His presence fill your home so that your love for one another reveals that He is dwelling among you, and may your family be built up together in the love of Christ. In Jesus name, Amen.
