By Jacqueline Howley – Mechanicsburg, Ohio
Lately, my husband Mark and I have been pondering the question of “Who is my neighbor?”— as in “Love thy…”
Around me, things do not seem to be as neighborly as they used to be. People seem to get offended at very little provocation. Many are having lots of opinions and disagreements, especially in the political arena.
I see it every day. Some people just do not like other people. I am sure you notice it, too.
Sometimes I’ve also acted that way, but I don’t want to live like that anymore.
So, how do I learn how to love people that may not love, like, or agree with me?
Nowhere does Scripture say that people must like me. But God does say that I must love them—love them as I love myself.
It’s a matter of obedience. It is a commandment. Jesus taught it to us a long time ago.
We find it in the book of Mark 12:28-34.
“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he [Jesus] had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” Mark 12:28-34
There are many tasks that are asked of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the first two commandments he gave us are the very essence of who we are to be to God and the world.
Photo by Michael Stokes
God, in fact, tells us eight times in his written Word to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. To mark the importance, God made it a commandment.
Put Others First
But what do we do when it is not so easy to love that neighbor? Living with other people can be messy. They can be vastly different and difficult to be around. So how do we do it?
The commandment “do unto others as you would have them to do unto you” is more than that.
“But I say to you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you…just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.” Luke 6:27, 31 NKJV
It is putting them first. Our actions and love are to show that we are followers of Jesus by the love we have for God, each other, and our neighbors.
We are to love them the way our Savior loves us—love them first before they love us. That is the pattern. God so loved that he gave.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16-17 KJV
Jesus is our prime example of loving, speaking truth, blessing, presenting God to whomever is in front of us … fearlessly, unreservedly.
Not only did Jesus love God as completely as described, he loved each one he came in contact with—his neighbor; Jew, Gentile, sinner. Who they were didn’t matter to him. And it shouldn’t matter to us.
Something about our old man nature is not comfortable with the possibility of unrequited love. But push through that anyway.
When you show your love and concern for another person, forget your sense of self-preservation.
Tell them they are loved by the One who redeemed them. Tell them with the joy in your soul that the Holy Spirit has placed there.
They need the reminder as much as we need to hear it ourselves. Don’t be afraid of what they may think of us; what really matters is speaking the truth of being loved.
Once you declare God, fear and inhibition will fall away. It will change your neighbor, and it will change you. There is freedom in that understanding.
And it transforms things. Not only is loving our neighbor good for them, but it is also good for us.
One of Jacqueline’s favorite “neighbors” from Christian Family Fellowship – they love others well together!
Jesus is right when he told that scribe who understood that to love his neighbor as himself was “more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices:”
“…Thou art not far from the kingdom of God,” Mark 12:34 KJV
Isn’t that where we really want to be?
You can view the Howleys working and teaching together in the Christian Family Fellowship Sunday Service Come See What God Has Done.
Jacqueline Howley has been a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ since her first Bible class in July of 1980. She and her husband were publicly ordained into Christian ministry at Christian Family Fellowship in 2016. The Howleys have a daughter, Joanna, and a son, John-Mark, and two beautiful grandsons.