Close to Others

Today's devotional is from What Would Jesus Ask You Today?

"Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?" - 2 Corinthians 11:29.

Paul set a high standard for love of others and modeled it in his pastoral ministry. He urged all disciples to so closely identify with others that they would feel what others felt. That would require that the disciples like you be close to one another, know what the others are going through, and then work to empathize and identify with the status and concerns of others.

Are you this close to other believers? Do you identify so keenly with them that you feel their pain or joy? Are you willing to enter into their sorrow to help them bear it or share in their joy of success without envy? This can only happen through God's love working in you as Paul and the apostles emphasized again and again as you can see in 2 John 1:1-6. Do you have that kind of love working in you?