One another...

I had the pleasure of having lunch with a valued friend today, as we spent some time talking she said something that was worth looking into...the idea of what God says about "one another". We all know how easy it is to be negative, to talk about others...it comes naturally and often our sense of justice is offended so we vent, well I vent. Got me thinking.... God says to love one another, be compassionate to one anther, to encourage one another....and there you have the idea of 'one another'.

This made me think, how often we were called to treat 'one another' in a specific way? That means it is off to my concordance and other study tools to try and find out... I found way more than I can put in this post..over 100 times the words 'one another' are used together...there may be more depending on the translation you are searching but whatever Bible translation you use, it is alot!!

Here are a few that I found:

Zechariah 7:9- 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.
John 13:34-"A new command I give you: Love one another
Romans 12:10-Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
Romans 14:13 -Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another
Romans 15:7-Accept one another
Galatians 5:13-... rather, serve one another in love.
Ephesians 4:2-Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:32-Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other
Ephesians 5:19-Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Ephesians 5:21-Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:11-Therefore encourage one another and build each other up
Hebrews 3:13-But encourage one another daily
James 4:11-Brothers, do not slander one another.

This list is by no means extensive yet it certainly must give us cause to think about our daily interactions with others. It is so easy to behave this way with the people we love but what about all the people we have a hard time even liking...how can we do this with those people? I am not sure that I can but when I see how often God has reminded us, I realize I at least have to try a bit harder, pray about it a bit more and possibly, just possibly I can succeed in showing the love God has for me to those around me in a more tangible manner....

One another.....let's spend time this week thinking about how we are instructed to treat one another...