Love Our Community
During the past few months we have seen riots on our streets as neighbours fight against neighbours.
The main issue has been our inability to live in harmony with those of a different race and creed.
In Mark 12 we find the two greatest commandments of the 613 commandments in the Bible, namely: “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 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 neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” (29-31)
As Christians we live by this second commandment: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Love your neighbour as yourself is the second great commandment of Jesus. It immediately follows His commandment to love God with all your heart, mind and soul.
Following this commandment is the key Jesus Christ gave us for loving others as God loves us.
A Pharisee once asked Jesus: “Who is my neighbour?” Instead of giving a direct answer, Jesus Christ turned the question on the Pharisee by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan.
After telling the story Jesus asked the Pharisee which he thought among the three was a neighbour to the man who was robbed to which the Pharisee replied, “The man who showed mercy.” Jesus then told the Pharisee to go and do likewise.”
In Jesus’ commandment, He taught us that it is not about asking who our neighbour is. Rather, it is about our own willingness to be a neighbour ready to love. It is obvious in the parable of the Good Samaritan that our neighbour can even be a complete stranger from whom we can expect nothing in return. But, following the commandment of Christ means being a neighbour to everyone, and most importantly it is about us being that good neighbour.
One man said: “We do not have to wait until we feel that we have a surplus of self-love before we give it away to our neighbours. The commandment made it perfectly clear: love your neighbour exactly as you love yourself. No more and no less.”
To “love your neighbour as yourself” means to treat others as you would want to be treated. To “love your neighbour as yourself” means to remember that you and they are, essentially, the same—not identical, but substantially the same. They, other people, have similar needs and desires, hopes and fears, limitations and voids as you.
They are your equals. They, too, were also made in the image of God as His children. They, too, are creatures of infinite worth and dignity. They, too, are frail and finite, weak and wilful, selfish and stupid, deprived and depraved – just as you are. And then we treat them as we ourselves want and need to be treated: with love – which means with respect, affection, honesty and kindness.
In Matthew 7:12 Jesus said: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Note he didn’t say, ‘as they do treat you’, but as you would want them to.
In this toxic environment we find ourselves in, with the far right on one side and the far left on the other; as Christians let us not forget that the unborn child is our neighbour, foreigners and immigrants are our neighbours. People with a different colour skin and who speak a different language are our neighbours. And even those of a different religion are our neighbours.
The late Tim Keller said: “Not everyone is your brother or sister in the faith, but everyone is your neighbour, and you must love your neighbour.”
Finally, we love because He first loved us! Let’s not forget that we once were strangers and foreigners…..we were not the people of God……..we were children of disobedience and wrath. Paul however reminds us: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The apostle John said: “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Therefore, we must strive to be obedient to the teaching of Jesus and “love our neighbour as ourselves.”
May God help us as churches to be salt and light in our communities, showing a more excellent way of living and demonstrating our love for our neighbours!
Arnallt Morgan