Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself!

Neighbor: fellowman, one living or located near another.

Mark 12:31 tells us; "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherish it. Some people don't want to love others, because of the potential of being hurt, but I'm here to tell you that it is more dangerous not to love them. That's because God is love and He commands us to love one another.

Given the current state of the world, now is the perfect time to show the type of love that Jesus is talking about in Mark 12. We may think that we can make it in this world by ourselves, but the fact is, we cannot. We need each other. It's easy to see that love is not always shown in today's world - if we were really loving our neighbors there would not be so much killing, hatred, bitterness, and anger among us.

One might wonder who is my neighbor? Well, let me answer that for you: your neighbor is anyone you can share God's love with. We are not only required to love those who are similar to us, but all whom God places in our path. Additionally, along with those placed in our path, we must also love our enemies and pray for those that talk about us (imagine that!). Those people are our neighbors too, so we must show God's love to them as well. We have gotten so far away from the Golden Rule "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" that loving each other feels foreign.

Let me share this example with you: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his raiment, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance there came down a certain Priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite (also a Priest), came upon the same place, looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan (people that were hated) journeyed by. That Samaritan came to the place where the wounded man was and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Then he put the wounded man on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was a neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise. (Luke 10: 30-37). When we show love unto our neighbors, we are really demonstrating our love toward God.

Love is the key and God is love, so let's love our neighbors as ourselves.

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!