Devotion to each other, and serve the Lord
Christian Friendship and Family
PROVERBS 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
A simple, yet profound verse describing what Christian relationships should be. Loving at all times is not easy when everyone goes through their own ups and downs in life, and only through the Holy Spirit and obeying the Word can we achieve this.
Adversity is also not always external. Sometimes our sinful nature may cause us to antagonise our own friends and family members. Always remember Christ’s unconditional love for the church as the model of the love we should have towards one another. God put the people in our lives not just for them to be there for us, but vice versa.
A Community Together
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17.
Most likely to be a familiar verse to most of us, we know that “iron sharpens iron” means that we Christians are meant to keep each other accountable and “sharp” for the Lord.
What does this look like in our daily lives? We should make all efforts to interact and communicate with our Christian communities, even during inconvenient times such as these. Despite feeling comfortable at home, we should take the time and energy to go for physical services and bible studies.
Iron need to come into contact with other iron to sharpen each other, as we should as Christians motivating and building up each other.
We are One Body
Romans 12:5, NIV: “so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
Paul in most of Romans 12 explains that the worship of our God is to become living sacrifices with Romans 12:3-8 detailing our responsibility as a living sacrifice. As the body of Christ, the church and everyone in it has a part to play. Our individual gifts are to work together to achieve glory to Christ.
As the church, Christ’s body on earth we are often spread across many different places with vastly different jobs, but together we are one unified “being,” a single entity with a single purpose.
In addition to this, we are to remember that we form ONE body. No one is left out, and everyone has a responsibility and should be wholly accountable to each other.
God’s Requirements
“He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?” – Micah 6:8, ESV
Earlier in Micah 6, the Lord has rebuked Israel for rebelling against him despite all he has done for them. “O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.”, Micah 6:3-4.