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“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” Romans 13:8-10 (NKJV). To love God as ours is to love him because he is ours, our Creator, Owner, and Ruler, and to conduct ourselves to him as ours, with obedience to him, and dependence on him.
The Bible tells us that this is love. Not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son as a reconciliation for the humanity.” You are the object of this love. God loves you. Knowing this is imperative. And not just loved in a general kind of way, but deeply loved and unconditionally loved. We tap into this when we understand that God loved us first. He’s the source of our love. God loved us even before Jesus gave Himself for us. God the Father is the source of all love. Before we can give this love, we need to receive it for ourselves. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" Matthew 22:36-40 (NKJV). You can’t give what you don’t have. In for you to effectively love your neighbor as yourself, you need to practice daily affirmations, which are positive statements that are repeated in order to change negative thought patterns, and in turn change negative behaviors. Practicing positive affirmations has been proven to decrease our tendency to linger on negative thoughts. If you struggle with negative self-talk, affirmations may help you stop. Here is a list of positive, daily affirmations. Know your boundaries. It is important to set boundaries in relationships to establish how you want to be treated. This can include how you treat yourself, as well as maintaining boundaries plays a crucial role in measuring self-respect. “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” Galatians 5:14-15 (NKJV).
Loving your neighbor means loving ourselves as well, in addition, to love your neighbor as yourself as commanded, you need to measure correctly. The measurement within this command is: as yourself. To love your neighbor as yourself you need to love yourself. This is something that gets misunderstood in the body of Christ often. It gets mixed up with dying to self and denying self as if we need to destroy our self. This is not true. Jesus died for each and every one of us. If Jesus valued us enough to go through what He went through, we owe it to Him to value what He values. We need to love what He loves us. The Bible even tells us that the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus. Learning to love ourselves prepares and helps us to love our neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself. That’s it. All the wars, all the blood, all the sorrow and anguish would be erased with this continuous attitude and action. Attempting to figure out why we can’t do it is a tedious exercise best left for moments of deep reflection. We are only able to control first what we do in our own lives, and secondly, how we influence those around us. A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his. Loving our neighbor goes far beyond peering over the fence. To love our neighbor means to serve our communities so that we are giving back what we receive. A continuous flow of goodwill and peaceful intent. “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” John 17:22-23 (NKJV).
Loving your neighbor means showing grace. Knowing God is love and that this love is for you is not enough. It needs to be developed. Imagine if you had a field of good soil and a bag of top-notch seeds. Would they produce a crop all by themselves? No. The seeds must be planted and cared for. Grace takes the seed of His love and the soil of our heart and creates fruit for the kingdom of God. The Bible says, “it’s God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Loving Him and our neighbor pleases Him. Grace helps us do this. Grace teaches us proper love and respect for ourselves and for our neighbor. Freely receiving His grace empowers us to freely give it. There are many things we can give away and all but one of them are free. Our time, talents, kindness, compassion, joy, and prayers are all free-flowing things meant not for hoarding but continuous sharing. We should be generous with our material wealth as well, even when it is small. If a man gains the whole world but loses his soul, what has he gained? Many men will lie, cheat, beg, steal or borrow in order to gain more. Most of the conflicts in history have their roots in this trap. To be a man of high ethics, it requires a willingness to sacrifice personal material gain when that type of success crosses the lines of morals and human dignity. Set high standards and stay true to them. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing” Philippians 2:11-13 (NKJV).
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