I had a dream this morning. All I remembered of the dream is I was a kid talking to my sister in the back seat of my parents car. That is all.
I woke up, and started pondering the dream. I realized all of sudden how much I love my sister. I also realized that when growing up, we sometimes got into fights, had conflicts, and things like that. But after everything settled, we still found a way to love one another. We did not have a choice in the matter: she was my sister, she shared the same roof over my head, and she shared the same parents. We could choose to hold grudges and the like against each other, but it would have made living together unpleasant, so children wisely choose to find a way to forgive and let go of the past. Oftentimes, children do a much better job of this than adults.
Consider that we love one another not because the other person did something to deserve it. Rather, we love one another because we shared the same parents, who could rightly demand that we get along. I’ve heard of parents who, if brothers and sisters have problem with each other — neither are allowed to leave the house (grounded) until the problem is resolved. Whether we liked it or not, our sibling is to be our friend — no if and/or but.
Similarly, consider the Kingdom of God and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like biological family, we don’t choose who our brothers and sisters are. The only condition of being a child of God is to believe in Jesus. Most of the time, we come to Christ not because we are perfect, but because we all desperately need God’s grace, forgiveness, and help in our life. It is wrong, therefore, to expect perfection on their part. Quite the contrary, we are commanded to love one another as Christ loved us. We are commanded to forgive one another, and even be willing to lay our life down for one another. All that simply because we are part of the same family — the Kingdom of God. Just like none of us deserved God’s grace, neither should we put any condition on the love that we extend to one another. We are called to love one another simply because we love our heavenly Father, and we know that He loves all His children. We cannot hate any of our brother or sister and still claim that we really do love Jesus.
Dedicated to my awesome sister, Debbie, whom I love dearly 
-Tim
