I am an only child!
I have no brothers and no sisters but I do have many cousins and there is one in particular that I saw quite often as I was growing up, her name is Donna.
At times we were inseparable as we played or got in trouble. She was just about the closest thing to a big sister that I’ve ever had and perhaps I was a little brother to her because she, too, is an only child.
Every so often I hear from her on Facebook or we talk on the phone.
But there is something that Donna and I cannot truly relate to.
It is written be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love (Rom. 12:10), let brotherly love continue (Heb. 13:1), and finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers (1 Pet. 3:8).
To us brotherly love is a foreign concept. I know for me, I understand it in my head but not my heart.
I never had a sibling to look up to or take care of. There were no hand-me-downs or pass-them-down.
No one to blame accidents on, when something was broken in the house; mom and dad knew who did it!
Despite missing out on many of the wonderful things that come with siblings, I stand on God’s word that says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Prov. 18:24
The really great this is I have been brought into a family of brother’s and sister’s; I have been adopted into an eternal family.
It is a family that prays for me, holds me accountable, and upholds me; a family that loves me.
The Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Rom. 8:15-17
I may not understand brotherly love but the world doesn’t understand the love that God has for me and I for Him.