Written by: Deanna Brooks, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Searcy, AR.
Friendship. Fellowship. Togetherness. Caring. Our Creator made us for relationships, and in the past few months, because of COVID-19, most of us have realized how precious our time is with “one another.”
Our times of being together for worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ went to online events. Many of us had to postpone family gatherings and celebrations, and we missed “one another.”
“One another”... ἀλλήλων (ah LAY loan) is two words in English, but it is only one word in Greek. I like that thought.
ἀλλήλων is used 100 times in 94 New Testament passages. Forty-seven give instructions to Christians.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He responded, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39.)
Jesus response was from the Shema, a passage every Jewish child learned early in life (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
From the “one-another” passages, we learn how to love our neighbor as ourselves:
Be at peace.
Don’t grumble.
Be of the same mind.
Gently and patiently tolerate.
Be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving.
Seek good.
Confess sins.
Love.
Serve.
Be devoted.
Give preference.
Be in submission.
Speak truth.
Comfort.
Encourage.
Stimulate to love and good deeds.
Pray.
Be hospitable.
We sing “Bind us together LORD...with cords that cannot be broken.” King Solomon wrote, “And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:12).
Jesus told His followers: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
First John 4:20 tells us how important it is to love one another: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” These are powerful words, just as relevant to our lives today as they were 2000 years ago when John wrote them.
Jesus prayed for unity in John 17:11: “...they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” This prayer was not just for those disciples with Jesus at that moment; later, in verses 20-21, He prays: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we put “one-another” into everyday practice in our lives?