"Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity." 1 Timothy 5:1-2 (KJV)

I had a hard time figuring out why Jesus, once said something like, "Those who do the will of God, are my mother, brothers and sisters" it was something to that extent. All of us followers of Christ, are spiritually related through Jesus! I can often feel who I'm spiritually related to sometimes, without them telling me they're a follower of Christ. I will just have a feeling about the person and it is easier for me to be close with the person. With that being said, if we're all related spiritually we need to treat each other like family. We need to help each other out and we need to instruct each other.

These scriptures say that we're to treat the elder man, as a father. However, there are other scriptures that say, "Call no one father, except your Heavenly Father." so my guess on these scriptures is that we don't call the elders, "Father", but we treat them with honor and respect, as if they are our dad.

We're to treat everyone with love. If we're all a spiritual family, then we should love each other even more than usual. If we love each other, we do each other no harm. I often hear stories of ministers who say, "I'm going to minister to this woman." then they're really going to commit adultery with the woman. That is not treating them like a sister, that is not loving like a family. That is not love because it is harming people in the process. Family does not do things like that to each other. We're all family and we need to stick together like one in purity and in love! We're family, let us act like one!

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Please bring us close to you and to each other. Help us to be unified in love and purity, like a family. In Jesus, name. A-men!