Love One Another

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:31

    

        WOW!  No one would have ever thought that people could begin to despise and hate at the level we have seen in the news recently.  Daily, the headlines scream of discontent, lawlessness, and hate.  HATE! screams across the headlines at breakneck speed.  People screaming at each other. People pushing and shoving others that have a different opinion.  People being accosted because they are proclaiming Christ in the streets.  If you want to know what the world will look like when Satan has control, look around, you are seeing a glimpse of it now. 

          The Bible says in Mark 12:30 that we are to first, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.".  We are to love the Lord first.  As I look around today, one is hard-pressed to see people loving the Lord.  It is hard to see them loving anyone but oneself.  Romans 13:10 tells us that "love does no harm to a neighbor".  The Merriam Webster dictionary states love is a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties; unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.  Do we have "love" for another?   Do we have that strong personal kinship with another?   Are we showing unselfish concern for others?   Do we love ourselves?

          My belief in that last stated question of "do we love ourselves", is many do not.  Many people go through their lives striving for things that are fleeting.  Those things, money, fame, success, and material things, are just the things of this world that make lives comfortable.  But if one or more can not attain those "things" then they feel their lives are unimportant or unpurposeful. Suicide rates are high. Alcoholism. Drugs.  People do not love themselves.  

          God put each one of us on this earth for a purpose.  He has a plan for our lives and if we follow Him and love Him, He reveals that purpose and plan to us.  Not all at once, but step by step the purpose and plan are revealed.  If we love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, He gives us unconditional love in return.   We are to turn and use that unconditional love in the same way with others.  We are to "love one another as yourself". We have to love ourselves before we can show love to others.  It is evident there are a lot of unloved selves in the world today.  They have let the circumstances of life throw them into a life of chaos and hate.  Instead of rising above the circumstances and using them to grow, people have used them as an excuse to hate instead of love.  They hate themselves so they can only hate others.

           How do we change this?  The only way it can be changed is through Christ.  God sent his only Son to die on a cross for us, what a love, to take our sins and give us eternal life.  None of us would have that a love that big to give our only son to die for another, but many have if their sons have been in the military or served in law enforcement and died in the line of duty.  God gave his Son's life to die for me and for you.  He didn't deserve to die for something I or you did.  He was sinless. But God in His infinite wisdom chose for this Lamb to be a sacrifice for us.  God's simple message is that we are to "love one another as yourself". It is not a hard message to follow.  Love one another, love yourself, love God.  Let's begin today!

“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.'"

Leviticus 19:18