I was talking to my kids about how their name-calling upsets me.
I said, “When you call your sister a bad name, it’s like you’re calling me a bad name, because I love your sister the same way I love you.”
My youngest daughter’s eyes got big. “But I wouldn’t call YOU a bad name, Mommy.”
“But that’s what you’re doing all the same,” I explained.
She looked thoughtful.
Her oldest sister rolled her eyes, unimpressed.
I don’t know if the lesson really got through to them, but I was serious. It hurts me when my daughters hurt each other.
Then at my Bible study class, we read the following verses:
1st John 3:14-15
Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don't love each other, you are still under the power of death. If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know that murderers do not have eternal life.
1st John 4:20-21
But if we say we love God and don't love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don't love the people we can see? The commandment that God has given us is: "Love God and love each other!"
I suddenly thought, God feels exactly the same way about His children!
Because He loves us, He wants us to love each other.
And in the same way, when we hate each other, it’s like we’re hating Him.
Pretty strong stuff.
I just hope the lesson sinks in a little better on me…
"Love" image from CD cover art bandcamp.com
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