BROTHERLY LOVE

1 John 4:21
God himself has commanded
that we must love not only him
but our Christian
brothers and sisters, too.



1 John 4:20 teaches us, “If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” The first brothers of the Bible, Cain and Abel, weren’t exempt from sibling rivalries. The foundation of their rivalry was envy, and Cain even went as far as killing his Abel because of the envy in his heart. There’s a story about a man who met two travelers along a road. One was greedy and the other was envious. When the three men came upon a crossroad, this man told the two travelers that he would grant both a gift before they parted ways. The gift was this: whoever would make a wish first would have his wish granted, while the other man would get a double portion of the wish. The greedy man knew what he wanted, but didn’t wish it because he didn’t want his traveling partner to have twice that of his own wish. The envious man was also unwilling to wish first because he knew he’d be envious of the greedy man having twice that of his own wish. Each waited for the other to wish until finally the greedy man took the envious man by the throat, saying he would choke him to death unless he made his wish. The envious man said, “Alright, I’ll make my wish. I wish to be made blind in one eye,” and immediately he lost sight in one eye – and his companion went blind in both eyes. Are you interested in a cure to envy, greed and rivalry? You’ll find it by sincerely loving God and your Christian brothers and sisters.