Love Your Neighbor As Yourself!

Love is the greatest commandment on earth. The Bible offers us an understanding of the source, character and value of love based on nature and actions of God. It teaches that God is the source of love and that His very character is love. In 1 John 4:7, the Bible says that “love comes from God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” In other words, love is a fundamental characteristic of who God is. Everything God does is driven and influenced by His love(John 3:16). 1 John 5:2 says “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” We cannot claim to love God if we do not have His commandments in our hearts. It shows in our obedience to His commandments if we really love Him. Love is selfless and patient, and keeps us in the service of the Lord without considering selfish interest. Love makes us identify with the challenges of brethren without attempting to brag about it. Love makes us to do the unusual and to go the extra mile.

Jesus in answering the scribes commanded them to love their neighbor as themselves, He summarized the other nine commandments into one as “love your neighbor as yourself”. The Bible also makes it very clear that love is revealed through action, especially what is done in the interest of others. If we love our neighbor, we won’t lie on them, cheat them, lay with their wives or husbands, hate or think evil about them. We cannot claim to be walking in love when we defile our neighbor’s daughter or go to the extent of killing other people. If we love, we can never be identified with envy, hatred, pride, selfishness or any form of wickedness. Love will not allow us to do so. Many people are going about lying and doing all manner of things against others. How will we feel if someone lie about us just to destroy our reputation? Many have filled their lives with gossiping and talebearing, tearing families and churches apart. The collateral damage caused can sometimes not be quantifiable. How will we feel if someone is interested in our wife or husband trying everything to move us packing out of our home? How will we feel, if someone steals from us or cheats us out of a business? Many have committed suicide because of the actions of others. It is written in Matthew 18:7 “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” The love towards our neighbors is an evidence of our love towards God, so let the love of God fill our hearts.

Beloved, as God has loved and treated you as His own, LOVE others and live with the consideration of the feelings and welfare of others. The Holy Spirit spells this out clearly in Galatians 6:2, saying “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Be conscious of the impact of your actions on others, that is imagine yourself in other’s shoes. Treat everyone in your life fairly like your own and love as much as you live. Be kind, love more and not try to be smart in your own eyes for you do not know what tomorrow holds for you. Never forget, you may not know the full story, so don’t be quick to judge because running to judgement can destroy someone’s life. Loving others does not mean agreeing with everything they say or do, nor does it mean acting in ways that always gain their approval. May you have the heart of God to love others as yourself, remembering that you too are a sojourner on this earth. Remember, embracing God’s love is the key to loving others and whatever will hurt you or will be painful to you, will also hurt or be painful to others.