One of the posts I took down, as I mentioned earlier, had this picture to it. Although it was just the word Philadelphia, and not the rest. Along with it I cited Revelation 3:7-13 about “The Faithful Church”, the church of Philadelphia. It’s a powerful and wonderful passage for us as believers. But the way I used it, posting it in the middle of contentions in the US was wrong. It could set to divide me from my brothers and sisters, and that’s not God’s heart.
Once I removed it, He reminded me what the name “Philadelphia” means. It means “Brotherly Love”. And He took me to 1 Peter 3:8-9.
Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous. Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
There it is again … “that you may inherit a blessing.” Wow, Lord. When we don’t pursue unity, it really does affect our blessing. So how do we handle that and pursue truth? I think the key is our heart. God always looks at the heart.
If we communicate our thoughts to someone and still esteem them, God honors that. But if our communication in any way mocks and belittles, it’s not of Him. In fact, then we’ve fallen into Lust of Power and opened a door to the wrong covenant. Ouch.
It’s all about identity. When we protect the identity of another, we show mercy. When we deface their identity, we’re treading on dangerous waters, and God’s blessing and justice can’t occur.
Yes, it’s important to stand in our identity, but we need to consider the identity of our brother in the process. That’s brotherly love. It’s a tough conversation, I know, but something I think we’re all learning together.