Brotherly Love
Jesus loves you. Jesus loves your brother in Christ. Jesus loves you both. Jesus wants you to love each other (John 13:34-35).
Our relationship between each other is founded upon the love that Jesus has for both of us. Christians experience God’s love through Christ (Romans 5:8). We also experience God’s love through the love we share with each other IN CHRIST (1 John 3:14).
Therefore, “Let brotherly love continue” (Hebrews 13:1). This statement is placed before a list of other commandments that also display brotherly love. There are countless ways to show love to each other as siblings in Christ. But the command here is to “let.” Meaning, we are not producing the love that we share, we are allowing it to continue. Those countless ways of showing love to one another is how we allow love to continue amidst the fellowship of believers.
The idea of letting or allowing brother love to continue means there is a source of this love that is not founded in either party. I don’t love my brother because he first loved me. He doesn’t love me because I first loved him. Rather, we both love Jesus because he first loved us. In both sharing that love with Jesus, we share in that same love together.
So, loving Jesus is not enough. We must love our fellow believers as well. John clearly reveals that loving each other is evidence that we share in the love of Jesus (1 John 3:14-16; 4:7-8).
So, how do you let brotherly love continue? Are there ways in which you are hindering brotherly love? Are you quenching the possible production of good fruit among your fellow believers by being obstinate or divisive with each other? Does love reign in your interactions with each other, or are you allowing sin to intervene and create drama?
Loving one another is not a suggestion, it is a command, and it is fruit. It is not secondary to loving your spouse, or best friend, or even Jesus; it is intertwined within those loves. So, it is time for us to consider, am I letting brotherly love continue and how should I let brotherly love continue?