God said to [Israel], “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” (Genesis 35:11–12, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “Jacob had twelve sons: The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah: Gad and Asher.” (Genesis 35:22–26, NIV 1984). A rather good start on becoming fruitful and increasing in number.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him. (Genesis 37:3–4, NIV 1984). Not the best start on “community of nations,” that God intends to build. Hate, fueled by jealousy, born out of favoritism.
Certainly not what God desires for His people. But God, is a God of transformation, fueled by love, born out of God’s grace. “A new command I [Jesus] give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34–35, NIV 1985).
Thus, the mark of God’s people is that they “love one another.” In fact, “if anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he [Jesus] has given us this [new] command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20–21, NIV 1984).
My Advice – Love for one another cannot be mere lip service. For that is not really love. How do we know what real love is? “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1 John 3:16, NIV 1984). Out of this kind of love comes a “community of [believers].”
The Brew Is A Musing 