In a previous article, I argued that personal discipleship flows out of Christian brotherhood. But how does Christian brotherhood happen? Well, first, we do not do it ourselves. God first causes people to become brothers and sisters in Christ by saving them. However, as with many spiritual realities in the New Testament, this reality of being family in Christ needs to actually be lived out in time and space.

Let me ask you this question: is there any similarity between the way in which you treat your natural family, and the way in which you treat your spiritual family of Christians? There ought to be. Romans 12:10 gives us this command: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love . . .” Do you know what that means? We are supposed to actually love one another with a love like that which exists among siblings.

How do we do this? First, we must actually consider other Christians as our spiritual brothers/sisters. We all have one Father. We are all His children. Christ is our spiritual Brother. Therefore, we ought to actually treat other Christians like they are our siblings. What does that mean? We are there for each other, we love each other, we are devoted to each other’s spiritual well-being, we care about each other, we enjoy each other’s company, etc.

So, I would ask you this question: do you consider other Christians to be your spiritual brothers/sisters?