LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS…
KEY SCRIPTURE: But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18 & Matthew 22:34-40 (NASB)
I love this story. Here Jesus basically sums up all the “commandments” of the Old Testament (The Law and The Prophets) into two. (I don’t know about you, but I NEED simple! Especially after reading Leviticus! GAK!!!)
He says first, love God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This seems rather obvious - especially in such a strict and religious culture as the ancient Israelites - and even today, this is kind of like… duh!
(This is actually a direct quote from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and its called the Shema. The Bible Project has an excellent Word Studies super-short 6 part series on The Shema (that I highly recommend!) and it covers all this in great detail… so I won’t go into it here.)
Jesus said the second commandment, that was critically (or equally,) important, is to love your neighbor as yourself. That sounds simple enough as well! YAY!
But…
What has always struck me here, is that Jesus (and the Bible) didn’t just say to love your neighbor… period. There’s that tiny little added part… the “as yourself” part. The implication (and HUGE assumption!) here, is that you love yourself.
THAT is what makes this…uhhhmm…not so simple after all.
I think most of us don’t even LIKE ourselves, let alone LOVE ourselves. And if we don’t love ourselves, then how can we truly love anyone else?? I’m not sure we really can… at least not they way Jesus is telling us we must.
Even if we grew up in a loving, caring, and supportive home, (which most people did not,) our society seems to be filled with bullies… from the kids on the playground, to commercials telling us we’re not good enough and need SOMETHING to be better, or different than we are in some way, to social media telling us how great other people’s lives are and therefore how crappy ours are. And after a while, we don’t even need these bullies beating us up and tearing us down… we do it to ourselves.
I don’t know about you, but I am my own worst enemy. I am WAY meaner to myself than I would EVER be to another person.
I have called myself names and said things to myself I would NEVER say to another. When I make a mistake, I show myself absolutely NO grace. At all. I start “shoulding” all over myself. You know… I “should” be better, I “should” know better, I “should” be further along, blah blah blah… I completely beat myself up, and tear myself down.
And, I’ve seen others do this too, not just verbally but physically as well. When they mess up, they start to hurt themselves… either by verbally and emotionally abusing themselves, by physically hitting themselves, or other forms of physical violence… like binge eating, cutting, drinking, or doing drugs.
I think most of us treat ourselves this way, because we believe this is how God feels about us when we mess up. But that is NOT what the Bible says. In Romans 5:8 we’re told, “But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Emphasis mine.)
He shows us GRACE. One of the most important verses we absolutely need to commit to memory is 1 John 1:9, which says, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” I love how the Amplified Bible fleshes this out for us: “If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].” YAY!!
Paul also makes it abundantly clear in his letter to the Romans, (8:35 & 38-39,) when he says, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ahhhhhhh…. Now, that’s a soft, warm hug right there!
And, of course, we can’t ignore what is probably THE most famous verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16, and it’s follow up verse, John 3:17, which states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (Emphasis mine.)
So, if God loves us like this… then maybe this is how we can (at least TRY to) love ourselves? Showing grace and gentleness and kindness to ourselves?
In my experience, only when we truly grasp God’s love for us… not just for ALL of us, but for EACH of us… only when I KNOW how much God loves ME… how I am wholly and completely loved by God, can I start to like…. and maybe even love, myself.
And only then, can I see that God loves others this same way… and therefore, I can try to as well. I can love them, as God loves me, and as I love myself.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
SCRIPTURES
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ~ Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (NASB)
Leviticus 19:18 ~ Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (NIV)
Matthew 22:34-40 ~ But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” (NASB)
Romans 5:8 ~ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (NLT)
1 John 1:9 ~ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (NLT)
1 John 1:9 ~ If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose]. (AMPC)
Romans 8:35 & 38-39 ~ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB)
John 3:16&17 ~ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (NIV)