Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Peter 3:8 (New Living Translation)

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

Peter is writing to Christians in a large region. Many of those Christians are Jewish. The Jews looked back to their ancestors and tribes. Peter tells the Christians of all backgrounds to, “Love each other as brothers and sisters.”

All my life, I have heard Brother so-and-so and Sister so-and-so. I haven’t heard that as much in the last 20 years for some reason. Still, brothers and sisters in the same family.

That was a foreign concept, something radical at the time of its writing. Jews and Gentiles—brothers and sisters. Uh, well, I don’t know. Travel from Louisiana to upstate New York. On Sunday, go into a gathering of, uh, brothers and sisters? Yes. Sometimes simply crossing a little river in Louisiana and you walk into a gathering of, well, yes, brothers and sisters. Sometimes the short journey is more difficult. I mean, if those folks are family, why don’t they live on the right side of the river? Why don’t they dress like me and talk like me and watch the same TV shows as me and cheer for the same football team as me and, you know, all the important stuff in life?

Simple, love each other as brothers and sisters. Sometimes hard for someone like me to do. Please God, help me in my unbelief.