THE CHRISTIAN GRACES: BROTHERLY KINDNESS AND LOVE

In today's society Christian brotherly

kindness i.e love, affection and kindness towards our christian brethren first before we display and give love to unbelievers is slowly eroding away. Many Christians are not empathetic towards to the plight of their brethren and that's what Apostle Peter is trying to discourage when he continues his message on the Christian Graces in 2 Peter 1:7 "to godliness add Christian affection; and to Christian affection add love". I love the way the New Living translation relays it, 2 Peter 1:7 "Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone". These verses are self explanatory. The Godliness we are now practicing and depicting impels us to care for our christian brothers and sisters in Christ first. We are inherently driven to care and show affection for our Christian brethren. Even when we don't feel obliged to be kind or caring to our fellow believers(which is not a good thing) we are supernaturally motivated and influenced(as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in us) to do otherwise. That's why Apostle Peter commands us to add Christian affection to the Godliness we now possess. It's so 😔 sad to see so many Christian institutions, ⛪ churches, Christian 🏫 schools give more priority to unbelievers than their church members especially when donations from these members form the major bulk of the Christian institution's budget that helps runs the Christian body.

A Christian who doesn't show kindness or affection to his/her Christian brethren but is kind and caring to unbelievers is a hypocrite and is disobedient to God's command.
As we decide and begin to display Christian affection to our Christian brethren, the Holy Spirit impels us(as we cooperate with him and play our role by obeying him) to show love to everyone around us i.e the unbelievers. It's that simple. Let me ask you a question. With whom does a father's primary allegiance and affection lie? Is it with his immediate family members(wife and children) or with his extended family members and friends? I'm sure that you know the answer. When a father lives in 😍 love with his immediate family he can then show love to those outside of his immediate family and it's also similar in our christian faith.
Apostle Peter is commanding us to add love for unbelievers to the Christian affection we are now depicting. What kind of love is he talking about? Apostle Peter is referring to agape love which is God's love or divine love which is also a selfless type of love. This kind of love is sacrificial and puts others before self. Now, he is not encouraging us to suffer and deny ourselves of good things in order to please others but he is enjoining us to share our time, money, talent, skills,  knowledge etc to help others(according to our capabilities and decisions at that moment). As we do this we grow into Christ likeness day by day.
I hope we have learnt something important today that will help build your Christian life positively. In subsequent posts I will be discussing the benefits of walking in the Christian Graces and the dangers of neglecting them. God bless.
Please if you are not a born again Christian and you want to be, repeat these words with 👄 mouth and believe them in your ♥ heart: Dear Jehovah God,  I repent from my sins today.  I believe that you sent Jesus Christ to die for my sins and he arose on the third day as the son of God and is seated in heaven at the right hand of God. Holy Spirit I give you control of my life. Amen.
Pls you are now a born again Christian and start attending a Bible believing church.