Dear Friends,
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark12:30-31 (NIV)
A friend asked Bonnie, “Do you like your neighbors?”
“Most of our neighbors are fantastic,” Bonnie responded. All except one man. There’s something about him!”
Her friend quickly responded, “You know, Jesus said, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ It doesn’t sound like you are being very loving to your neighbor.”
Bonnie responded, “I’ll ask God to help me.”
Later, we had a long discussion about what it means to ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ I believe most of us have a core of people we like, some we are ambivalent towards, and some who simply irritate us. On occasion, even people we like may irritate us. Are we less Christian because we react differently to different people? Are those who seem to treat all with equanimity more Christian than the rest of us?
Let’s look at Deuteronomy 19:18, the Scripture verse Jesus was referencing when he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Deuteronomy 19:18 (NIV)
“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge” is straightforward. No paybacks and no remaining resentful or angry about past offenses. Deuteronomy 19:18 foreshadows later Scriptures dealing with forgiveness, such as Matthew 6:14-15
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
God doesn’t want us to be judgmental, but many of us are to some extent. That doesn’t mean we are bad people. It means God hasn’t finished with us yet.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
We may not think, for instance, we bear grudges, but look at all the synonyms for ‘bear a grudge’ listed in the Thesaurus.
Ever do any of these?
Dislike Begrudge Grudge Be in a huff Be insulted Be offended by
Be put off by Be rubbed wrong way Be vexed Feel bitter Feel sore
Frown at Get nose out of joint Harbor a grudge Have hard feelings
Take amiss Take as an insult Take exception Take offense Take umbrage
Jesus ranked Loving our neighbors right behind loving God in importance. What is often missed is that Jesus also highly ranked loving oneself: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The Greek word translated love in this Scripture is agapaō: to love, value, esteem, feel or manifest generous concern for. How we feel about others often reflects how we feel about ourselves.
Want to love your neighbor? Start by discovering what it means to love yourself.
In Matthew Henry’s Commentary we read, “We must evidence our love to our neighbor in the same way as that by which we evidence our love to ourselves, preventing his hurt, and procuring his good, to the utmost of our power.”
Blessings,
Your Friends in Christ
Because He Loves Us Press 