Scripture

Leviticus 19:2,17-18 NKJV

“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.…You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Consider

When God adopts us into his family, he demands loyalty and commitment to the purity of his family. We are commanded to love our brothers and sisters in the faith and to sacrifice for their welfare, quite beyond any devotion that we may have experienced with our earthly families.

According to God’s Word in Leviticus, the fact of our kinship with each other in Christ trumps any offensive or hurtful behavior we may suffer from our brothers or sisters. No wrong suffered can justify harboring hatred against them. Our holy and loving Father forbids us the perverse luxury of a festering grudge. We are never to entertain fantasies of revenge or to spread hurtful gossip about another of his children.

Moreover, we are called not only to refrain from acting hurtfully against our holy siblings but also to love them and to act in their best interests. Our responsibility to promote their welfare may require us to speak out against behaviors that disgrace the Name of our Father and bring hurt and discord into our faith family. In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul cautions believers to reprove a wayward brother always in a spirit of gentleness and love, and with the intent of sharing the burden of his sin until he can repent and be restored to holiness.

God calls us to be a family set apart for his glory and to be a witness of his goodness to the watching world. We are to be holy as He is holy, in our hearts and in our relationships with our redeemed brothers and sisters. Jesus told his disciples that when we shine with the light of God’s love in the way we treat each other, the world will notice and give praise to the Father.

Reflect

Matthew 5:16; Galatians 6:1-2

Pray

FATHER, I confess that I have not fully appreciated what it means to be a son or daughter in your holy family. Teach me your concept of family and the meaning of the rules that you have set in place to keep us safe and make us holy like you. Help me to overlook the offenses of my brothers and sisters and instead to look for Christ’s likeness in them. Give me courage and wisdom to act in their best interests, even if it means offering a loving reproof.

Ponder

How do God’s family rules compare with those of your earthly family?