LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR ...

Romans 13:8-10 (NIV) “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

This portion of scripture looks pretty straight forward. However, it does beg 2 very different, yet important questions that need answering: 1) who is our neighbor? and 2) do we love ourselves?

The Message translates ‘neighbor’ as ‘other people’. The New Living Translation says “Love does no wrong to others”. Other translations use words like ‘a neighbor’; ‘our neighbor’; ‘his neighbor’, etc.

NEIGHBOR defined: 1. One who lives near or next to another; 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another; 3. A fellow human; 4. Used as a form of familiar address.

I believe scripture is using ‘neighbor’ as a general term referring to all people. In a traditional sense, a neighbor would be the people that live either directly surrounding your home on each side or those living on your street. But surely it isn’t simply referring to the folks living on your street alone. Taking the Bible as a whole, it stands to reason that it is meaning the former, rather than the latter.

So this leads us to the greater question: Do you love yourself? I tend to have a love/dislike relationship toward myself. I say dislike, because I do not hate myself, but can tend to dislike myself at times. I dislike my thought patterns more than anything else. I don’t have a problem with my words or actions most of the time, but it is my INaction and the things I DON’T say that makes me dislike myself at times. So, my answer to the question is ‘not all the time’. What’s your answer to that question? To respond to Romans 13:10 we really have to do a little self-analyzation.

James 1:22-24 (NIV) “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

Knowing what God requires of us and not responding to it only hurts us. It certainly doesn’t hurt God. To simplify the above verses even more, it would be like a man going before a mirror, seeing that his hair is disheveled, he has a 2 day growth of beard and he is in need of a general tidying up and he turns without doing a thing and goes off to a job interview. He is not likely to make a favorable impression, but I think you see my point. If we don’t even like ourselves, we may have a problem branching out and loving others. For many of us, the scripture may need to read ‘love your neighbors as you wish or would like to love yourselves’, shouldn’t it? If the truth be told, yes.

Don’t be so hard on yourselves. Be kind to yourselves. Reflect on the love God has for you. Read 1 Corinthians 13 in its’ entirety … the ‘love’ chapter. It will aptly define what Godly love truly is. Then go about putting these things into practice.
You are not alone. Ask God’s Holy Spirit to change you in the way that you must change to be more like Jesus. Submit to His work in you. Cultivate yourself. Feast on the living water provided by the Holy Spirit. Become all you can be in Christ.

Now go and WALK WITH THE KING AND BE A BLESSING!