Loving Your Neighbor

 I believe a lot of people think that it was just in the New Testament that God taught us to love our neighbors. That is not the case, at all. God is love, and He has always been all about loving everyone, even our enemies. God doesn't mean for us not to protect ourselves and our families from those who would hurt us, but He wants us to love them as we protect ourselves. We should be characterized by love, just like our Lord.

God made this truth very plain and gave us some details about how to do it. (Leviticus 19:18) We are commanded not to take vengeance nor bear a grudge against anyone. Instead, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. He is the Lord, and this is His command for all of us, as believers. What a different place the world would be if we we obedient to the Lord in this way.

People are going to hurt us. Hurt people hurt people. Sinful people plan ways to hurt others. At times we will face all kinds of problems because of other people, but we are not to retaliate against them. We would not want anyone to take vengeance on us, would we? Therefore, if we are loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, we will not take revenge for any reason.

Also, we must not hold a grudge against someone who has hurt us. God wants us to have good relationships with our family and others. We need each other. We need to be open and loving, so we can benefit from our relationships. When we hold grudges, our relationships are damaged, so that we do not love others as we should. Again, we would not want anyone holding a grudge against, so, we we need to heed the Lord's command here to really love our neighbor the way we love ourselves.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Leviticus 20-22.