“10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.”
In the previous devotional covering verse 9, we learned from Paul’s first letter to Timothy what it means to love one another. We must teach one another truth, and hold one another accountable to it, actively rooting out evil. What a stark difference there is between biblical brotherly and sisterly love and the love that is claimed by the world. Jesus tells us that this is what distinguishes Christians from the world, by the way that they love.
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” — John 13:34-35
Paul tells us that another way we can love is by honoring one another. How do we honor one another? Here’s an example from Phillipians:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.” — Philippians 2:3-4
To take the lead in showing honor toward one another, we must remove all selfish ambition and be humble. The ultimate example of this humility is Jesus as He honored God and provided a way for His elect to be saved through the sacrifice He gave upon the cross. He could have rightly called down an army of angels to wipe out every single sinful human being on earth, but instead, He chose to serve in humility. Rather than looking out for His own life, or His own honor, Jesus gave everything. Jesus surrendered everything, even to the point of death. Not only death, but also to the point of having the Father, another member of the Trinity, turn away from Him for the sin He took upon Himself at the cross. That is the ultimate example of a humble, self-sacrificing love, and this is exactly the kind of love that Paul calls us as Christians to show toward one another.