22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22
I have always found it a curious thing that the outside world would know a difference in us by how we treat each other, not how we treat them necessarily. It’s only logical when you stop to think about it. If we can’t love those who are like-minded, how are we supposed to love those who are of a different mind? And as it turns out, it’s not easy to love those in the church because we don’t always make it easy to love. Sure, we are born again Believers who have been redeemed, but we’re still sinners with selfish motives, attitudes, and actions. We are works in progress and we’re not perfect…and we’ll be the first to point that out.
Peter’s just reminding us of the basics as we need to be reminded often.