“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” – Romans 12:10
As we are welcomed in the holy family of God, we are not part of His family, which means that we have brothers and sisters in faith. It is just right for us to see them as our family, to encourage one another, and pray for one another. Now, our verse today is what exactly it is all about. Paul encourages us to be devoted to each other in love. As we are part of the same family, and now bound by the love of Christ, we must also extend this love to our brothers and sisters in faith.
The catch here is that, just like in every family, there are really misunderstandings between the siblings. That is why we must also expect that we will have those days that we will have misunderstandings with people in faith, but in the end, we must also see what is in the center of us. We must look at Christ as our center and be reconciled in His love. So, Paul wrote a challenge together with this verse that we must outdo each other. We must honor one another in love that is above ourselves. Let us show one another that we can love them more than we can love ourselves.
After all, this is what Christ commanded us to do– to love one another just as we love ourselves or more than ourselves. Now, let us also put into our minds that we will be put into a lot of situations where this attitude will be tested. We will be tested on how far we can love one another, and the hardest people to love are the people we don’t like. We may come in the same faith, and bound with the blood of Christ, we will also have a hard time showing them our care and our genuine love. However, we must always remember to love one another no matter what and extend our patience toward them.
Therefore, we must understand that it is very important for us to outdo each other with love and to be an extension of Christ’s love towards them. Let us learn to love one another without any reservations. May we learn to honor one another, and be genuinely happy for them. Let us also show the love of Christ to those people who don’t know Christ and may we love each other more than we love ourselves. We must not stop praying for one another, and making them feel that they are not alone, but we are all one in the body of Christ.
