Romans 12:10 “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;”
Getting saved brings about TWO new relationships. The first new relationship is with God, and He is now our FATHER! Part of our great salvation is we are adopted into the family of God. Being in the FAMILY of God brings about a new relationship with people, with the OTHERS of this world. We have a new vertical relationship with God whereby He is our Father, and we have a new horizontal relationship with people who are saved as they are our BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
Romans 12 is now addressing this new horizontal relationship. Romans 12:4-8 taught how we use our spiritual gifts to edify each other. Moving into verses 9-10 we are to genuinely love one another, being kindly affectionate to one another. The idea of kind affection speaks of being DEVOTED to another. It means being there when they need you. An example would be Ruth being there for Naomi.
The apostle Paul now moves us to a new level of LIVING, a new level of LOVING others – as we are to HONOR others ABOVE ourselves. We are to GIVE PREFERENCE to others!
For the Christian, it is others BEFORE us and others ABOVE us!
This new level of treatment means we don’t just treat people like we want to be treated but rather we treat them BETTER than we want to be treated!
We must ask: Do you treat OTHERS better than you treat yourself?
The version of the International Standard says, “Be devoted to each other with mutual affection. Excel at showing respect for each other.” What a different world we would have if we EXCELLED at RESPECTING one another!!!
Others BEFORE you and others ABOVE you!
Continue Strong treating others BETTER than you treat yourself,
And remember to DATE The Word