Kindness
Affection
Brotherly love
Honour
Preference
That sounds like a pretty good recipe for a successful
relationship, doesn’t it?
Kind affection comes first. This is as simple as showing
nice to each other. It is being kind. It letting our love for each other be
unmasked. That sounds pretty simple, but it is sorely lacking in the church. We
get so busy with our own plans and goals and agendas that we forget to be nice.
Brotherly love goes hand in hand with that doesn’t it? Love
motivates us to put others before us.
And that leads us to ‘in honour preferring one another.’
I like what Martin Llloyd-Jones says about this little
titbit. ‘This…appears to be obvious, but the more you analyse it, the
profounder you will find it to me.
We honour something when we examine it and see its worth. We
decide that it is worthy of honour when other things are not. When we truly
honour someone or something we show it respect. This word for preference means
that we take the lead in honouring each other. We don’t wait to be honoured in
order to show honour.
That’s pretty deep. I see the value in others and choose to
honour them by giving preference instead of demanding preference for me.
What that means is that in brotherly love I don’t worry so
much about me. In fact, I really shouldn’t be too concerned about me at all.
‘Lord, help me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray
My prayer shall be for—Others.
Others, Lord, yes others,
Let this my motto be,
Help me to live for others,
That I may live like Thee’*
*Charles D. Meigs, 1917.
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