For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue... and godliness with brotherly affection, 

and brotherly affection with love.

II Peter 1:5-7, ESV

I have been talking with a good friend in recent months about something which both of us find deeply disturbing. We have both observed that people just seem to have little patience with one another. This lack of patience has led to a noticeable decline in civility, and that lack of civility is leading to a society that is, for a lack of a better description, just getting mean.

Both of us have worked in professions that have placed us around a lot of people for quite a number of years, so our observations are based on a pretty significant sample size and the conclusion seems inescapable: Society really is degrading to a point that should concern each and every one of us. People really do seem to have lost that vital trait of brotherly affection or, if not completely lost, it is certainly drastically diminished. Fortunately, there is a solution, and it is one I first learned when I was a little kid. And what is that solution?

When you find yourself in a rock fight, stop throwing rocks!

One sunny morning when I was about five years of age, the bigger kids in my neighborhood were engaged in a literal rock fight. It looked like great fun to me, so I joined right in. I was told not to, but the conflict seemed exciting and was therefore irresistible to my immature mind. What happened next was entirely predictable, as I quickly took a hit in the middle of my forehead that left a nasty and painful bump for days afterward. In the subsequent years, I found myself in another rock fight or two, always with the same result: Somebody always got hurt.

But these experiences were not completely without benefit, as I learned a few valuable lessons. The first was don't get in a rock fight in the first place. The second was if you do find yourself in a rock fight, stop throwing the rocks back. The other guy will eventually run out of ammo and will tire of the game and quit the fight. The third lesson may have been the most important. If you find yourself in a rock fight and the other fellow won't stop, go home! There is little glory in getting hit by a rock, and even less in being the one who threw it in the first place.

So, what's all this got to do with our original topic? It's just this: The Apostle Peter was inspired by God to instruct us in the importance of growing our faith. This would lead to important virtues which would help us get along with our fellow man. As these virtues matured, they would eventually result in important characteristics such as having an affection for one another. 

And when we have an affection for one another, we stop throwing rocks. When we stop throwing rocks, a civility returns. And when civility returns, we start talking to one another again in ways that only reasonable people can understand. And when we become reasonable, we can not only listen to the other person's point of view, but we can begin to understand it. This will lead to an actual sympathy for their situation, and this sympathy will lead to peaceful solutions. And when you read the full passage above, you will see that all this begins with faith and ends in love.

And this mean old world needs love, does it not?