Rom 12:10 says to be devoted to one another in brotherly love – devoted in this passage means to lovingly love the person. It contains 2 Greek words, the second is about loving practically, loving consistently; it is the unspectacular, down to earth sense of belonging. How do you do it? You change the way you think about others. Keep supporting others even when they disappoint you. You tell yourself they love you – even when they don’t display it. You watch for the signs they love you in practical ways.
Dale Ebel pastors Rolling Hills Community Church and it was Dale who officiated at Bonnie and my wedding. Here are some thoughts I’ve developed out of what Dale shared about the Greek word “storge”. You see this word lived out in -
1) Practical oneness: when one hurts, others hurt – this helps to eliminates competition.
2) Supportive loyalty: this is when you see all the faults in another person but never use the faults against them. This love always expects the best, always defends the other person.
3) Mutual trust: it is a mutual reliance on each other that is so deep it is unconscious. This love allows people to communicate out loud their confidence and when in relationship with others it allows people to realize that they are capable of overcoming anything.
4) Emotional refuge: will be seen in relationship that is soothing, healing, and empathetic.
5) Being comfortable with each other: this type of familiarity should never breed destructive teasing or discourtesy. Instead it will develop a healthy relationship of lifting up and not tearing down. Tearing down is the easy thing to do and say, while storge chooses instead to build up and encourage.
It takes a measure of time and consistency to build this kind of love. To get there you will need to stockpile your righteousness. Stockpiling your righteousness? That is just a great way of saying in the midst of opportunities to do otherwise, you instead choose to do what is right, what is uplifting in any given situation. Will you be perfect and do this with every opportunity? Probably not, but you keep pushing forward in becoming who God created you to become. It’s an interesting walk through life. Frustrating with failures to live out exactly what we believe we are supposed to do, encouraging when we see ourselves changing into God’s person He has created us to be.
Hope that’s helpful, once again it’s all about choices and living them out by the power of Holy Spirit.
