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But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

I was on my way into work recently a little earlier than usual and caught a portion of a message from Alistair Begg, a pastor in Cleveland who speaks with a Scottish accent. (Not quite the Sean Connery brogue but still Scottish.)  Something he said caught my ear and rode with me the rest of the way in.  He said, “Love is to be defined in caring terms not based on emotions or feelings.”

Allister was giving a message from the book of James 2:8-13 about favoritism.  A verse he used as the base of his message was the last portion of verse eight, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  He stated when you wake up in the morning, you don’t wake up and say “I love myself, I love myself, I love myself!” Unless of course you are Paris Hilton, then that’s another story. But the fact of the matter is that when it comes down to it, you show that you love yourself by taking care of yourself.  You make sure that you’ve had something to eat, you’ve taken a shower sometime in the last several days, and that you stay warm enough.  Simply put, you show yourself love by caring for your daily needs.

What does that have to do with our neighbor? When we look throughout the Bible, we see the phrase “Love your neighbor as yourself” nine times. One of the nine instances quotes God the Father in Leviticus 19:18, another five quote Jesus (Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27), and the other three are others quoting Jesus or God the Father (Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8).  Evidently by who said it and the number of times the same phrase was reiterated, “Love your neighbor as yourself” was not meant to be taken lightly.  It included the word “neighbor.” The word neighbor can be defined as people you meet at the store, co-workers, family members, really anyone you come into contact with.  To sum it up, we should be caring about our neighbor (people at the store, co-workers, family members, etc.) the way each of us care for ourselves.

I really had to get serious and ask myself, Am I caring for my neighbors the way I care for myself?  Do my actions show that I care about my neighbor? As I looked back, in some places I did a decent job, in some places I totally stink at showing love to my neighbors.  What about you?  Are you caring for your neighbors the way you care for yourself? Do your actions back that up?  How are you loving your neighbor?

Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

- Luke 6:31

We tend to see this line used when parents are teaching their children how to interact with others.  While the verse is good for that, what about us as adults?  How are you treating the people you come into contact with?

Just four verses before the above verse, in  Luke 6:27, we see Jesus challenging his disciples to love their enemies and do good to them even though their enemies may hate them.  Jesus continues and instructs the disciples to bless those who curse them and pray for those who hurt them even going to the extreme of giving to anyone who asks.  The famous Golden Rule is found after all of this, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.”

Jesus’ words and teaching are still true for us today.  How would your enemies describe the way you treat them?

Suggested reading:  Luke 6:27-36