“You and Me”—We Are Brethren - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2025

Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren."
Genesis 13:8

"You and Me"—We Are Brethren
Lot was not a stranger and pilgrim like his uncle (Heb. 11:13), so they were bound to face challenges in their relationship. But they were brethren, so we can apply Abram's words to ourselves as fellow believers on the Lord Jesus. We differ in character and attainment, but we should be able to go on together in the Christian life.

It was not long after Abram and Lot began their journey that strife broke out between their respective servants. Sadly, this happened in front of the people in the land (Gen. 13:7). But how often this is the case with us too; we fall out and unbelievers witness it. And yet the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:35).

Paul exhorted the Ephesians, "Be imitators of God" (5:1). The savor that rose up to God from Christ's offering should be smelled on us, as the beneficiaries of His sacrifice of love, as together we experience and enjoy its blessings. So what stops this? Often it is too much of self. Our great substance (Gen 13:6) gets in the way of the mutual love we should have for one other: the "you and me" aspect of Christianity that should bind us together because we love the Lord. Very often the solution we adopt is the one Abram offered Lot: "Please separate from me" (v. 9). But parting company for this reason is the very opposite of what Christianity is about.

John writes, "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us" (1 Jn. 4:12). Let us resolve with God's help to love one another as Christ has loved us (Jn. 15:12).

Simon Attwood