The other night I looked down the hallway to see my two year standing on top of a chair that he had pulled out of his room and having opened the hall closet was attempting to reach something. I went to see what mischief he was getting himself into and he told me that he was trying to reach a bandaid for mommy's "owie." He had noticed a small scratch on my wife's leg and wanted to get a bandaid so that he could take care of her! It was awesome to see his care and love for his mom as he took the initiative to help her and as he was carefully putting the band-aid on her "owie." At first I was surprised that he took the initiative in taking care of his mom as it is not always the typical response of a 2 year old. However, I shouldn't have been that surprised because day after day he is the recipient go great care, concern, and love that his mom showers upon him and when someone is daily impacted by another's love, care, and concern, it become natural for that person to also demonstrate love, care, and concern for others. This led me to think about all the one-anothers in Scripture.
There are a lot of "one-another's" in Scripture that call us to relate to those God has placed in our lives in a certain way. We are called to; love one another, be devoted to one another, honor one another above ourselves, live in harmony with one another, serve one another, be kind and compassionate with one another, forgive each other, and many more! If we are honest with ourselves these things do not necessarily come easily for us. Maybe we do a decent job with the "one-another's" with the people that we find it easy to get along with, but how do we do with the "one-another's" when it comes to people who are not as easy to get along with. The reason Ty was able to care for his mom, is because he has experienced her care time and time again. If we are going to carry out the one-another's in Scripture we need to see how God, through Jesus, regularly loves us, serves us, is kind and compassionate to us, forgive us, and much more. When we live in that time and time again it becomes natural for us to demonstrate those things to others. If you are struggling to live out the "one another's" that are found in Scripture the best place to start is by realizing how God is living out each of those in your life on daily basis. To daily notice how God is loving you, serving you, being kind to you, forgiving you and so on. As we do that we will begin to notice that we are growing in our ability to love, serve, be kind, and forgive others that God has placed into our life.
Ty cared for mom because mom has cares for him. We love, serve, and forgive others because God has loves, serves, and forgives us.
