Love Your Neighbor

June 9, 2008 by Matt.

Yesterday Pastor spoke on the Ten Commandments. In his conclusion he mentioned Matthew 22:37-39, where Jesus sums up the Ten Commandments as, “love the Lord thy God” and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Well, I found myself thinking about what it meant to “love your neighbor as yourself.” As I thought about it, I thought about all the things I do for myself because I love myself… Hmm, does that sound self centered or selfish???? That certainly is not my intention, but the truth of the matter is that we do love ourselves and there are certain things that we do as a result of this love. Below is a list of some of the things that I do because I love myself:

• Food: because I love myself I make sure that I have food.
• Shelter: I ensure that my mortgage gets paid so that I (and my family) can have a place to live.
• Clothing: Because I love myself I make sure that I have clothing (this could also be considered a service to those around me as no one should ever have to see me naked except for my doctor and my wife, and they both asked for it.)
• Employment: because I love myself I do all I can to ensure that I maintain employment.
• Transportation: Because I love myself I make sure that I have transportation so that I can get to the aforementioned employment.

 This is just a small list of the things that I do because I love myself. So, how does this relate to loving my neighbor as myself. I imagine that many of you have already made this connection. So if I love my neighbor as myself, then anything that I do because I love myself, I should also love my neighbor enough to do for them. So, if I ensure that I have food to eat, then I should also ensure that my neighbors don’t go hungry. If I ensure that I have shelter, then I should ensure that my neighbor has shelter. If I, well you get the idea.

So, the question I end up asking myself is, “Am I loving my neighbor as I love myself.” “Am I showing the same level of love for my neighbors that I do for myself.” “Am I as concerned for making sure that my neighbor has the things they need as I am for myself?”

If I am being honest with myself then I would have to say no to all these questions. This is something that I need to work on. I think that this is also an area in which our churches are failing badly.

So, how would you answer the question, “Are you loving your neighbor as yourself?”

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