Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for unity and love in your family is beautiful and it reflects the very heart of God. Scripture says that love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, for God is love. When that kind of love is present in a home, it is evidence that His Spirit is at work.
The love the Bible calls us to is not the shallow sentiment often portrayed as love, and it is more than even the natural affection we have for family and close friends. Those affections are real, but the love God pours into our hearts through Christ is different. It is agape, a giving, self sacrificing love. It does not seek its own gratification. It gives, as God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. That divine love was not caused by anything in us. We did not first love God, but He loved us and sent His Son for us. When we understand how deeply we have been loved, our hearts respond.
That is why Scripture continually points us to Jesus as our example both for love and for forgiveness. We are told to love one another even as He has loved us, and to forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. The measure of our forgiveness is His forgiveness toward us. That is a high calling, and we cannot fulfill it in our own strength. It becomes possible as we walk in His love and let Him dwell in us. The promise is that if we love one another, God dwells in us and His love is made complete in us.
In a family, this love shows itself in very practical ways. It suffers long and is kind. It walks in humility, patience and consideration for one another, not living to please ourselves but looking to the needs and feelings of others. True Christian unity is created and preserved by that kind of love, as we accept one another and bear with one another graciously. God Himself is described as the God of patience and comfort, and He patiently works in each of us as we grow.
I pray that the Lord will strengthen your faith and deepen your fellowship with Him, so that His love will flow more fully through you to each other. May He help you to forgive quickly as you have been forgiven, to speak and act with kindness, and to reflect His love in all you do. As you abide in Him and He abides in you, may your home be bound together in the unity that comes from Christ, and may His love be perfected among you.
The love the Bible calls us to is not the shallow sentiment often portrayed as love, and it is more than even the natural affection we have for family and close friends. Those affections are real, but the love God pours into our hearts through Christ is different. It is agape, a giving, self sacrificing love. It does not seek its own gratification. It gives, as God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. That divine love was not caused by anything in us. We did not first love God, but He loved us and sent His Son for us. When we understand how deeply we have been loved, our hearts respond.
That is why Scripture continually points us to Jesus as our example both for love and for forgiveness. We are told to love one another even as He has loved us, and to forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. The measure of our forgiveness is His forgiveness toward us. That is a high calling, and we cannot fulfill it in our own strength. It becomes possible as we walk in His love and let Him dwell in us. The promise is that if we love one another, God dwells in us and His love is made complete in us.
In a family, this love shows itself in very practical ways. It suffers long and is kind. It walks in humility, patience and consideration for one another, not living to please ourselves but looking to the needs and feelings of others. True Christian unity is created and preserved by that kind of love, as we accept one another and bear with one another graciously. God Himself is described as the God of patience and comfort, and He patiently works in each of us as we grow.
I pray that the Lord will strengthen your faith and deepen your fellowship with Him, so that His love will flow more fully through you to each other. May He help you to forgive quickly as you have been forgiven, to speak and act with kindness, and to reflect His love in all you do. As you abide in Him and He abides in you, may your home be bound together in the unity that comes from Christ, and may His love be perfected among you.
