"And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity."
2 Peter 1:7
This is part of a list of good things that we should cultivate within ourselves, and I definitely don't mean to dismiss any of the list, including the other things in this verse, but what caught my eye today was the trait of brotherly kindness.
I don't think that brotherly means that kindness should only be cultivated among brothers, but instead that we should treat each other as brothers, in the positive ways that we relate to our brothers and sisters. For instance, perhaps we shouldn't treat relationships as though they were disposable, but instead treat others as though we were "stuck" with them... that they will always be there, as part of our family.
In an eternal sense that is absolutely true, and perhaps we don't know the depth and the breadth of what relationships will be like beyond this life. ... I am guessing that we're not going to be able to have that list of people in the back of our minds that we just don't get along with or want to deal with. I'm guessing that when we want to enter heaven, or join a Zion society, we're going to want to be cool with absolutely everyone.
That's a super tough thing, because we all have biases and areas where we are probably intolerant or impatient with others who don't agree with us, or who aren't similar enough to us for us to easily get along. So, today, let's practice. :) Let's think about the people we couldn't get along with most recently, or who we are not looking forward to talking to today, and then let's work on it. Let's start adding some more brotherly kindness to our portfolio, and work on getting better at that. :)
2 Peter 1:7
This is part of a list of good things that we should cultivate within ourselves, and I definitely don't mean to dismiss any of the list, including the other things in this verse, but what caught my eye today was the trait of brotherly kindness.
I don't think that brotherly means that kindness should only be cultivated among brothers, but instead that we should treat each other as brothers, in the positive ways that we relate to our brothers and sisters. For instance, perhaps we shouldn't treat relationships as though they were disposable, but instead treat others as though we were "stuck" with them... that they will always be there, as part of our family.
In an eternal sense that is absolutely true, and perhaps we don't know the depth and the breadth of what relationships will be like beyond this life. ... I am guessing that we're not going to be able to have that list of people in the back of our minds that we just don't get along with or want to deal with. I'm guessing that when we want to enter heaven, or join a Zion society, we're going to want to be cool with absolutely everyone.
That's a super tough thing, because we all have biases and areas where we are probably intolerant or impatient with others who don't agree with us, or who aren't similar enough to us for us to easily get along. So, today, let's practice. :) Let's think about the people we couldn't get along with most recently, or who we are not looking forward to talking to today, and then let's work on it. Let's start adding some more brotherly kindness to our portfolio, and work on getting better at that. :)
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