Mutual Affection
READ
The depth and authenticity of our devotion to God is revealed in how we relate to one another. Scripture is clear: we cannot claim to love God while harboring hatred toward those who bear His image (1 John 4:20).
If we truly love our Heavenly Father, we will be devoted to learning how to love those that He made and died to save—even those who we count as our enemies.
Growing in our love for God is synonymous with growing our love for His people. Devotion to Christ necessarily expresses itself as devotion to others. There is no faithful love of Jesus that bypasses love of neighbor.
Let’s take a moment to read Romans 12:10a:
Love one another with mutual affection.
REFLECT
“Loving one another with mutual affection” is far more simplistic in theory than in practice. Learning to genuinely love other fallen, wounded, broken children of God is one of the most challenging spiritual disciplines in the Christian life. However, for those who are devoted to following Jesus, it is not optional.
Jesus names the greatest commandment as loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind—and immediately binds it to a second: loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37–38). Neighbor-love is not a lesser command; it is the unavoidable outworking of obedience to the first.
Neighbor-love is the most authentic, natural expression of love for God.
Yet we are not called to love each other in a shallow, contrived way. We are not called to love one another from a distance.
Jesus did not love us superficially; nor did He keep us at arm’s length. If we are devoted to Christ, we will follow His example—we will draw near to those who are difficult and learn how to cultivate authentic affection for them.
But how do we love people who have harmed, betrayed, and abused us? How do we develop affection for individuals who have caused deep wounds—not only to us, but to entire communities?
The answer is simple, though far from easy: to love difficult people, we must learn how to see them through God’s eyes.
Every person we meet is an object of God’s delight. Every individual we encounter is deeply loved by the Creator of all things—so much so that He gladly shed His blood for their redemption.
God does not merely tolerate the difficult people around us—He rejoices over them with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). He invites us to do the same: to look beyond their flaws, sins, and misgivings, and to remember their true identity as His children. He doesn’t just want us to “put up with” His people—He wants us to notice and name the beauty that He has placed within their hearts.
We are able to love in this way because it is how Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19). God’s love for us is not circumstantial. It does not hinge on our moral performance or spiritual productivity. It does not fluctuate with our obedience or diminish with our failure.
God loves us not because of what we have done, but because of who we are—His beloved children. That alone is reason enough for His care.
This is how we learn to love difficult people: we remember who they are in God’s sight. We remember that they are members of God’s Holy family.
The Greek word translated as “mutual affection” in today’s passage—philadelphia (φιλαδελφία)—means brotherly or sisterly love. To love one another, then, is to recognize the shared family resemblance among us.
Every human being—no matter how broken or depraved we may judge them to be—bears the image of God.
When we learn to see those before us not as the sum of their sins, but as God’s children, we are transformed into people who can love as Christ loves.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
What would change if your willingness to love difficult people became the primary measure of your devotion to God?
Who in your life do you need to begin seeing through God’s eyes—and what might it look like to practice regarding them as God’s beloved child?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Abba, thank You for devoting Yourself to us in genuine love and affection. Empower us to respond faithfully to Your love by extending it to others. Remind us that the primary measure of our devotion to You is our willingness to love Your people. Transform our vision so that we might see those around us as brothers and sisters. Help us to see past the faults and failures of our neighbors, remembering that You have chosen to forget our sins. Let us regard every person we meet with the respect and honor due to them as Your beloved children. Amen.
Port City writer Kate Redenbaugh wrote today’s devotional.