The command to “Love Your Neighbor” is found eight times
in the Bible - not once or twice – but EIGHT TIMES. It’s
so important to God that He makes it His second commandment.
But loving your neighbor as yourself isn’t always easy, yet we
are called to do it on purpose and to be intentional about it.
But you may be asking, “Who is my neighbor anyway?” Who exactly
was Jesus talking about? Was it the folks next door or does He have
a deeper meaning for us to firmly grasp?
You’ll be happy to know that nowhere in the Bible does it say
we have to like our neighbor, but to love our neighbor as ourselves.
So the question is HOW do we do this, and the answer is we must act out of
the love of Christ that is within us, and not out of anything within our neighbor.
(Be sure to read this again.)
If Christ is our identity, we have an identity connected to the endless well
of His love. We can give and serve even when it’s not convenient - like
the Good Samaritan who had mercy on the beaten man on the side of the road.
That neighbor could be anybody, at anytime, anywhere.
My friend, if you are empty you can’t love well because love is giving,
not taking. Fill your cup full of the love of Jesus by getting to know Him well
by reading and meditating on the Word of God. Talk and pray to Him every
day about everything and listen to His voice when He speaks to you and seek
to emulate His unconditional love, Then you can experience the JOY of
giving your love away even to those who are sometimes seemingly unlovable.
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