Something to Think About

DEVOTION 1 JOHN SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT 1 John 2:9-11 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. NIV Is there any room at all in the heart and mind of a believer for anything but pure love for their brother? The question is of course, is who is our brother? That is answered by the Greek word for brother who can include fellow citizens of the world, all of mankind. It does in the sense of having been written to us believers appear that brother means all fellow believers in Christ. But still that is a tall order, as we find so many different types of personalities within the body of Christ and some can be quite irritating. Sure hate is a strong word and within the meaning of the Greek word used there is has many applications, but still it refers to not loving, no matter how we attempt to apply it. So how do we love? Can we have feelings of less than love, even towards those who seem not to love us? Can we allow any hard feelings to exist at all? If we apply the definition or explanation of what love is from Corinthians and then think about all our fellow believers can we say we are doing what is right, that we are walking in the light? Do we dare think we could be walking in darkness while attending church and being a part of worship with those people who we do not necessarily enjoy being around? Why do believers form little tight knit groups and seem to not allow outsiders to be a part of? Can we have special friendships within the whole body? Maybe, but do we exclude others from even being friendly towards. Maybe on the outside we appear to like, or love everyone, but what about on the inside? Are we being false in our appearance, all the while having a little envy, jealousy, bitterness, or some other form of distain for a fellow believer? Do we even go so far as to be judgmental of their personality all the while, thinking we are judging their behavior, which still is a problem and then we still try justifying our feelings? Have we been blinded to what love really is by our own selfish ways? Do we actually love our brother? This is truly something to think about.