Daily Devotional

I’m the youngest of five children and I come from a fairly competitive family. Game nights were always entertaining, if not for the game themselves then for the great lengths we’d go to try to win. Even though we all wanted to win, we all also knew that it was just for fun. The mark of a good game night was lots of laughing and hopefully a memorable story to tell in the future.
I have a theory that the closer you are to someone the easier it is to be competitive without negative consequences. I used to play basketball and I remember feeling very competitive but also less likely to laugh off a loss. I didn’t personally know anyone on the other team, so I viewed them only as opponents. However, if I was at home and playing basketball against my big sister, we were still competitive, but once again, all in good fun.

This is why this call to “brotherly” affection makes so much sense to me. If we love each other like a family member, it changes the dynamic of the relationship. This familial type of love is absolutely necessary if we are going to do the next thing commanded of us; “Outdo one another in showing honor.” We’re not just told to show honor to each other but to actually OUTDO each other in showing honor. When I read that, those competitive inclinations start firing up in my mind! That’s right…being competitive is biblical…at least in this sense. The only way this “competition” works is if we have the first ingredient, brotherly love.

Where the rubber really hits the road with this verse is that there’s no guarantee that the one we are showing honor to will reciprocate. There’s no caveat in the verse that says we are to do this “only if the other person is also acting lovingly towards you.” No, it’s a command that we are meant to follow no matter what. Ideally, we’d all act with love towards each other and seek to outdo each other in showing honor, but even if the ideal isn’t the reality, we as individuals can still choose to love and to honor others…plus, if someone doesn’t respond with love back to you then it just makes it easier to outdo them! Winning!

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.