Matthew 22:39 – LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF
Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Christ was asked which of the commandments was the greatest. Christ said that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord with all your heart and the second most important commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself.
The concept of loving someone as much as you love yourself is a hard one to grasp. Men have a hard enough time loving their wife as much as they love themselves but that one at least makes sense because we understand that the two have become one. How do you love your neighbor as yourself?
Once when Jesus was asked who was one’s neighbor, HE responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan was the one who stopped to take care of the person who was beaten and left for dead. The Samaritan did his best to nurse the man back to health and then inn keeper to take care of him until he was better. The Samaritan demonstrated sacrificial love in that he probably had no hopes of repayment but simply did what needed to be done regardless of the personal costs.
It is easy to know and understand your own needs and to take care of them, it is much harder to examine someone else’s life and discern their needs so that you can take care of them. However, this is exactly what Christ is commanding us to do. In order to love your neighbor as you love yourself, you must take the time to study those who God brings into your life. You must pray to God to give you insight into what you must do in order to show others what you must do to show them the love of God. Because you are seeking HIM to find ways that you can demonstrate the love of God, God will reward you with powerful examples of how to show the love of God.
Christ commanded us that we are to be a light unto the world. One way we show the light is by reflecting the love of God through our lives. People are used to seeing others put themselves first, thus when you choose to put them first, they know that there is something different about you. They may not immediately respond to the love that you show them but you must remember that God is the head of the harvest and HE can use your faithfulness to someday bring a lost soul into heaven.
When was the last time you stopped and helped a travelers who’s car broke down on the side of the road? When was the last time you helped pay someone hospital bills because you could? This is what the Good Samaritan did to demonstrate what true love was all about.
It is easy to focus upon yourself and hard to focus upon the needs of others. However, as a Christian, God has given us the tool of temperance. When we use the power of God to put the things of God first in our life, we have the strength to focus upon the higher standard that God desires us to live by.
When Paul taught about whether it was right to eat meat sacrificed to false gods, the answer was not a simple yes or no. Instead, Paul taught us that one must make sure that they are not offending another weaker believer. Paul took the focus off of whether something was right or wrong and instead put the focus upon the needs of others. If you take the time to understand those around you, it will govern your decision making so that you do not do something that could cause another to stumble.