10/14 1 Thessalonians 4:9

9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.


Paul heard how the church of Thessalonica loved the family of God throughout the entire region of Macedonia. Their love went beyond the local church body and extended to all their fellow believers in the whole region. Does your church family love the believers in other churches of your town? Too often we hear of churches competing with or slandering one another. That is unbiblical.

Paul went on to tell the Thessalonians to continue to increase in that love for one another. If we can't love our fellow believers, how will we ever learn to love our enemies?

We can practice familial love on the one in our own fellowship who is the most difficult person to love. Perhaps that member's personality or favorite issues rub us the wrong way. We can pray for God's love for that person and get to know him or her better. We need a vision for what the person will be like when God's work in him or her is complete. Some of the things in others that irritate us do so because God's work in us along the same lines is not yet complete.

Consider: Imagine how wonderful your fellowship in heaven will be when you and everyone you meet is full of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).