Love Your Neighbor (As Yourself)

Operation Reach Out: Love Your Neighbor (as Yourself)

"...but you shall love your neighbor as yourself..." - Leviticus 19:18 (NKJV)

Loving your neighbor may sound like a simple strategy if we were just talking about brotherly love. You know, the kind of love that does not require us to get out of our comfort zone or even move beyond the norm from our daily routine. However, the biblical mandate laid out in the Law speaks of loving your neighbor as yourself. Whoa! That means we have to put this type of love in perspective. Otherwise, we run the risk of not following the Law.

Oh, but wait a minute! We have grace. Jesus died for our sins, so we are no longer under the Law. Whew! That was a close one. What we need to do is go by what Jesus said as our Lord and Savior.

"You have heard it said,'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."- Matthew 6:43-44 (NKJV)

The difference and distinction that Jesus makes with these words is simple. Loving someone will require something of you and something out of you. You won't be able to maintain some of your same old hang-ups if you follow what Jesus said. You will find it hard to keep your enemies at a distance is you are called to love them. You won't be able to easily hide behind the subtlety of "classism", sexism or even racism if you are to do good to those who hate you. You probably won't even be able to keep that burning hatred in your heart when the Lord calls upon you to pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Good grief! What's a person to do?

Simply do as He has said. Jesus teaches that loving those who love us is merely hypocritical. He challenges us to be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 6:48). We can meet the challenge prayerfully and powerfully.

• Prayerfully:
  • We go to the Lord in prayer, seeking for Him to stand in our stead and speak in our stead. We must plead to be led by His Spirit, not our old nature.
  • We must continue without ceasing in prayer (1 Thes. 5:17). Our dependence must be upon Jesus as the Rock of our salvation.
  • As we pray, we will find it difficult to hold grudges and gripes against our brothers and others.
• Powerfully:
  • The victory is not by our own power. It comes about by the power of Jesus Christ.
  • God is also known as the "Almighty" and as a "strong tower" in the Scriptures.
  • We operate by God's Holy Spirit's power, so whatever fuels us will have to be faith.
    

Go beyond yourself and get busy sharing the love of Christ with others. Today is the best time time get busy.

Starting Point:

Take today as a new opportunity to extend the love of Christ to someone in ways that you have never imagined. The change in you will be come apparent by what you do.