Love Thy Neighbor

Show me in the Bible where it says love thy neighbor BUT ONLY if they’re the same race as you, love your neighbor only if they have the same title as you, only if they share the same view or perspective as you, love your neighbor only if they drive the same car as you, believe the same God you believe, have the same degree as you do or live in the same neighborhood as you.

News flash the Bible doesn’t say any of that.

There is no IF contingent upon our love for our neighbor. No matter WHO your neighbor is, where they are from or what they believe God commands us to love them. This isn’t just a simple, verbal expression of love either, no, God commands us to love our neighbor exactly as we love ourselves. I don’t know about you but that is an astounding amount of love and respect that we ought to be having for one another.

Matthew 22:36-40 says this: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

I know what you’re probably thinking, I love my neighbors we never talk, they stay on their side of the fence and I stay on mine and we never bother each other or maybe you’re thinking I love my neighbors, they’re like family and our kids hang out together all the time. While that’s great and all our so called “neighborhood” goes beyond our physical address. Our neighbors are all those whom we come into contact with. Your coworkers, classmates, mailman, your Uber driver, the grocery store clerk, your teacher, hair stylist, police officer, pastor, the homeless man at that one intersection, your doctor, and yes, even our president. These are all our neighbors and God calls us to love them, every single one, no matter our differences.

Stick with me here. I’m not saying that we must agree with each other on every matter or issue. I understand that we all have an array of differences, such as our beliefs, political views and perspectives. We each have our own desires, hopes and dreams. We live obvious different lives, have various careers and even had different childhoods. We are each of us incredibly unique and because God created us with so many differences we will have things we disagree on but no matter our differences, our God commands us to first and foremost love Him and when we love Him we will learn to love and respect one another. 

Do you know why God told us first to love Him? It’s because without first loving Him we do not have the right mindset or understanding to love one another with the same love that He has for us. If you took God out of the equation and you attempted to love someone, it would probably go great until that person wronged you and immediately your sinful nature kicks in causing you have a desire to hurt and retaliate bringing pain onto an individual, that is the body’s natural instinct for us to do when we experience pain but when we FIRST love God and truly KNOW God we begin to see the situation as He would see it and love and care as He loves and cares for us.

Once we learn to love God He commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. You know what’s easier than loving someone else or loving your favorite food or tv show? Loving yourself. It’s simple right? I mean who knows you better than yourself and don’t we all want others love us as much as we love ourselves? That is why God calls us to love others with that same kind of love. He wants our love towards others to be as simple as loving ourselves. Not to overcomplicate or over examine that love but to simply and easily express love, like a reaction. Loving others doesn’t have to be complicated. It should be easy. As easy as loving God or yourself.

I know that this is all easier said than done. I’m not blinded by the fact that there are hateful people out there whose sole intentions are to cause pain, hurt and destruction and sometimes it can be difficult to show love. For that we need to go back and revisit the life of Christ. While on this earth no other person received injustice for their actions like Jesus. He was hated, persecuted, tortured but not once did He CHOOSE to act in a poor fashion, He didn’t attack, He didn’t curse, He never intentionally caused pain, He didn’t think negatively or have a desire that harm would come upon them. No. He had compassion and cared deeply for the hearts of those who brought pain upon Him. Christ loved and expressed His love daily in His walk. No matter the situation He never stopped loving or caring. Even until His dying breathe, Jesus had compassion on those who sought to destroy Him. Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” No amount of pain stopped Christ from loving.

Isaiah 53:3-6 says this: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Christ’s life is an example and reminder to us all that no matter what challenges we are going through now, no matter who seeks to destroy us or cause us pain, no matter our differences or unique characteristics we are commanded to love our neighbors; God desires for us to respect one another and show compassion, not cause division or destruction but to love.

Just as Jesus stood for the truth and did not give up on this world so are we to stand for the truth and not give up on one another. We are here for a purpose and that purpose is to spread His love.

God’s greatest commandment for us is to love Him and the second greatest, to love one another.

What better way to love one another than to respect, understand and show compassion to one another.

To pray for one another and worship together.

To witness and be a powerful testimony of His love and saving grace.

To not only stand for the truth but to spread His love through the Gospel.

There’s no greater power to fighting the truth than God. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the author and finisher of our faith.

So the next time you choose to stand and fight for the truth, don’t go at it alone but go at it with God in your heart, loving Him and loving the world through Him.