On the counter lays a photograph, one that was sent to our home at Christmastime, and as our custom, we keep all the cards mailed to us, taking time throughout the coming new year to pray first over one card, then a few days later, praying over the next card.  This activity is not mine to own but one that was shared with me years ago, and I find this holiday driven activity one of my favorite things about ushering in a new year.  This week’s card contains several photos of an older sister and her little brother.  Each day, I have passed by this card, and each time, I have remembered to pray for these two sweet children (and their mother and father too).

As I passed by today, one particular photo seemed to jump from the card and land straight in my heart.  Imagine the photograph in your mind—a blond-haired, older sister is cupping her smaller, younger brother’s face between her hands & she is giving him a sweet kiss on the lips, one that only a sister can give to her brother. This is truly a holy kiss, one that only a brother can give to his sister or a sister can give to her brother.

Now, maybe you wonder:  How can one single photo impact a person so dramatically?

Maybe it is because we are deep within the study of a man named Job, one who suffered through so many losses:  his wealth, his property, his children, his health—everything BUT the loss of his life.  During this time of distress, Job’s three friends came to visit.  For a solid week, they sat in silence beside him on the ground, BUT THEN Job’s friends began to speak, and that’s where I find my thoughts today as I look at this sweet photo of a sister with her hands embracing her younger brother as she plants upon his lips a sweet kiss.

Go with me to the Old Testament, to the book of Job, to the place of extreme suffering, to one of the passages in the Bible that reveals how we are to love God.

Truly—

• We are to place God first in our lives!  AND
• We are to love God more than anything or anyone else!

“Were you the first man to be born,

Or were you brought forth before the hills?”

Surely Job, you were not present before the earth was formed!

“Do you hear the secret counsel of God,

And limit wisdom to yourself?”

Surely Job, God does not speak only His wisdom to you!

“What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that we do not?”

Surely Job, God does not provide you more understanding than God gives to the rest of us!

Job’s friend Eliphaz seems to be most condescending with his questions voiced to ‘his friend’ Job, and as I read through Eliphaz’s second discourse, I find the Holy Spirit asking me questions—

1. Child of God (Nancy) have you ever treated a sister-in-Christ OR a brother-in-Christ like this?
2. Yes, Nancy, have you ever seen suffering siblings and turned away rather than turning toward them, offering comfort and aid?
3. Nancy, one who truly remembers how it feels to be lost and headed to eternity apart from God, when will you learn that Christian brothers and sisters need sweet hugs & kisses MORE than they need plausible biblical(isms) of truth during their seasons of suffering.

Maybe the Holy Spirit has not convicted you in this manner, but the Christmas card/photograph depicting how brothers & sisters in Christ should treat one another, along with the passage in Job 15 depicting how the friends treated their brother Job has convicted me this morning.

HELP US LORD—To Offer Brothers & Sisters-in-Christ What They Need Most

• When we speak with our brothers and sisters-in-Christ, let us speak words of balm rather than words of pain.
• When we reach out to our brothers and sisters-in-Christ, let us wrap them in warm hugs and greet them with a holy kiss, rather than voice our words of condemnation.

When we bow before the LORD, to lift our prayers—

• Let us remember how the Lord remembers all of His children.
• Let us also remember how we are to intercede for those who are lost and do not know God.

Let us remember to pray!