(philostorgos – affectioned, tenderly loving)
Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
This verse describes a kindred love or a cherishing of one’s kindred such as parents for children. Think of family as in a husband’s devotion to his wife or parents devotion totheir children.
“Devoted” is such an old word. Webster’s dictionary says that it showed up in 1586. You may have heard the word used in phrases like, “he is a devoted husband” or “she is a devoted wife.” It may be that someone is devoted to their work, job or cause. But none of those phrases helps or hints at how Paul was instructing the church to treat one another. Be devoted to one another. It can better be explained by two Greek words slammed together. Phileo (a friendly love) and Storgos (family or deep love for our children). Put them together and you have a word that describes a deep family love towards each other.
A few months back we had a horrible plumbing back up. I called a plumber to come out and clear the clog which I thought may be a “mainline” clog. Those are the worst. When the plumber arrived he proceeded to give me the bad news. Since we didn’t have a “cleanout,” they would have to remove a toilet ($$), run a mainline snake ($$$) and because it was a Sunday, charge extra $$. I was so frustrated. I wanted to just send him away, but he was going to charge a service fee just for coming out. I didn’t want to lose money for doing nothing so I agreed to most of the suggested charges.
Once he and his assistant got started we began to chat and I discovered that he was a believer and went to church a few miles from my house. My first thought was, “I better be careful how I treat this guy… he’s a brother.” My second thought was, “Hey! He better be careful how he treats ME — I’m his brother as well!” We ended up talking about our walk with God and actually knew a few friends we had in common. He knocked off some money from the bill and I was happy how it all turned out.
The point isn’t, “Hey, Christians better give me a discount!” The point is this; we need to treat our brother or our sister in Christ like we would our own flesh and blood family members. Because, the truth is, we have Christ’s blood in common and we ARE family.
Regardless of what church they go to, are you treating other believers like family?
“I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three …”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Prayer:
Lord, help filter my thoughts to allow tender, family type love to reach out to my brothers and sisters in Christ. May I treat them as I would my own flesh and blood.
If you have a story of delightful devotion from or towards someone, share it in the comments area and let others be inspired.