brotherly love

It's been too long... A lot has happened in our lives since my last post. But more on that later. I want to share with you something that I've been thinking a lot about lately.

If I could sum up what our time in Louisville, Kentucky impressed upon me, it would be brotherly love. We spent a little over a year in Louisville while Chad was going to seminary at SBTS, and it was the first time since I have known Chad that he wasn't working as a minister in a church. As much as I love being a minister's wife, I was really excited to experience being "lay people" in a church together. We found our church family at Ninth & O Baptist Church. We got involved in a Bible Fellowship Group (BFG) at the church that consisted of couples around our age, most of whom had young children. We sat under some wonderful and challenging teaching by Dr. Wellum and later Joshua Whetstine. I cannot tell you how blessed we were by this group of people! Looking back over the time we spent with these Brothers and Sisters, all I can think about is the wonderful fellowship (and I don't mean food), deep theological discussions, serious prayer, sharing of burdens, compassion, brotherly love, laughter and at times... tears. Being with this group of people from NAOBC and some amazing people we were blessed to know at Southern Seminary, I learned something so valuable - what true Christian brotherly love is meant to be. I pray that this will remain impressed upon my mind and my heart as we move on and serve in another church, no longer as "lay people".

I remember one or two weeks while we were in L'ville just being so overwhelmed with burden for so many people in our lives. We had heard about several friends (not just in L'ville) going through things like divorce, dealing with unbelieving family members, sickness, death etc. There was a couple in our BFG who had been going through the international adoption process for many months to adopt two little boys from the Congo and had just found out that one of these boys had died from meningitis. Oh man... I can't tell you how heartbreaking it was, and to imagine what it was like for this couple. It's the kind of burden you have that drives you to pray. That's all you can do at times. Trust in the Sovereignty of God when nothing else makes sense.

As Christians we are called to LOVE our Brother and Sister in Christ. We experienced that kind of love while living in Louisville and I am so blessed. I think this is what Peter was talking about in 1 Peter 3.8-12:

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For

“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” [ESV]

There are also times in life when it is hard to have this kind of love (just like this passage speaks of - the desire to "repay evil for evil")... we all know that. When someone wrongs you, our natural sinful desire is to "punish" them in whatever form. Oh how damaging this can be! When I see this happening in someone's life, especially in a believer's life, I realize it's like spitting the face of Christ! He didn't hold bitterness in His heart because He had to take on the sins of the world and die for undeserving, selfish people... He prayed for them, He loved them, He died for them. How can we as Christians choose to hold on to bitterness (no matter how badly you've been wronged) when Christ died for our wrongdoings? Brotherly love isn't just carrying eachother's burdens, but it's also forgiving their wrongdoings. And it brings about blessings!

How many times have I kept a "record of wrongs" [1 Cor 13.5 NIV] against someone? How many times have I listened to the burdens of others and not truly listened, to the point of carrying their burdens? It breaks my heart to think of it.

I pray that these amazing truths I learned while we were living in Louisville will stay with me as we serve our new church family at FBC in Willow Springs, MO. I pray that I would learn to love this wonderful group of Believers with the Brotherly love found only in Christ. And I pray that we would truly carry their burdens with them, rejoice with them, and that I would learn to immediately forgive when someone in my life wrongs me. For we are all called to this; and how can we do anything less when we have been given such a wonderful gift in Christ?