His Encouragement: Love one another with brotherly affection

His Encouragement: Love one another with brotherly affection

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This post is part of the series His Encouragement

Other posts in this series:

  1. His Encouragement: Biblical Inspiration for your Thursday
  2. His Encouragement: Psalm 147:3
  3. His Encouragement: Psalm 37:3

Welcome! Welcome, dearest friends, to His Encouragement: Biblical Inspiration for Your Thursday. Every Thursday, a few blogging friends and I will each bring you a Bible passage and a little hope-filled discussion. We pray that these Thursday posts help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you.

Today’s Encouragement

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

—Romans 12:10, ESV

Last weekend we had the honor of being invited to a birthday party. Even though they are about a year and a half apart in age, the birthday boy is our older son’s oldest friend. Our son (currently two and a half) always gets so excited whenever he can see his friend, and he will often talk all about how he loves his friend and enjoys playing with him.

The party itself was very well done, and our little family lingered a little after the other guests had gone home so we could catch up with the parents (who happen to be very good friends of ours). I also wanted to lend a hand in cleaning up, though I could not do much more than sweep the kitchen floor.

While the adults were chatting away, the kids were playing in the living room nearby with various toys. During a momentary lull in the conversation, we heard our son say very clearly and earnestly: “{name}, you are my best friend!”

As a mother, his kind words, spoken in childish innocence, melted my heart and reminded me of Romans 12:10.

One of the parenting goals my husband and I have is to teach our children to love and respect others. This is something that needs to be modeled and encouraged from day one. We encourage kindness, sharing, and helping others daily whether at home with one another, while visiting Grandma and Papa’s house (my in-laws), at Sabbath School and church, or when visiting family and friends.

Sometimes, especially during the so-called “terrible twos”, there can be times, days, and maybe even weeks where it seems like the toddler is not retaining what you are trying to teach them. Personally, I do not believe in “terrible twos”. All kids are going to have good days and more challenging days because their world and their understanding of it is expanding at a phenomenal rate and they do not always know how to process it all, especially their emotions.

While it may seem your toddler is too busy running into and knocking down their little brother or sister one day to hear your gentle instructions and corrections, a few days or weeks later, they just might surprise you by sharing their snacks without being asked or helping their sibling up when they stumble or demonstrating other acts of kindness.

Sometimes we may be tempted to think that little ones are just too young to understand and we should wait to teach them these important lessons until they are old. However, they are always watching and observing us, and they will mimic our behavior and our words. Our younger son (currently one year old) loves to get a hand broom from the laundry room and tries to sweep the kitchen floor when I’m sweeping. He has learned this from watching me sweep and also watching his older brother help. Our older son loves to help by holding the dustpan and carrying the dirt and crumbles to the trash can.

It is moments like this is when we discover that our efforts are not in vain. And, you know, sometimes we — adults — need to be reminded about the simple things, too, and could learn a lesson from the little ones. Just how joyful they are to help and how happy they are to be “good helpers”.

Are we not like little children? I often wonder if we look and act like toddlers to the Lord and yet He deals with us with such patience and grace. Click To Tweet

Are we not like little children? Even though we are grown up, I often wonder if we look and act like toddlers to the Lord and yet He deals with us with such patience and grace. We are often so busy running around doing our own thing, but if we pause for a moment, we will discover the Lord’s still small voice is speaking to us, instructing us, gently correcting us. (Psalm 46:10 and 1 Kings 19:11-13) May we always be still and listen to the Lord’s voice.

Friend, I do not know what you may be going through this week, but I pray that you will reflect the love of Christ in your life and model kindness, sharing, and helping others. Let Romans 12:10 be a reminder to us of the importance our Lord places on loving others and being His helping hands.

What verse has touched your heart this week? Share in the comments below!

Be sure to also visit my fellow bloggers and read their encouragement for your Thursday as well:

Hi there, blogger. Would you like to join us in sharing encouragement from the Word of God every Thursday? Don’t be shy! Contact Trisha or Nicole today!

His Encouragement for Your Thursday

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Photo by Jacquelyn (me).

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