Loving Our Neighbor
A reading for Friday, March 3, 2017: Leviticus 19:11-18.
When Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment, he responded with "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength... and your neighbor as yourself." Our Lord was not making up a new ethic or practice of faith, but instead responding with ancient Jewish observance.
The care of neighbors is as old as the faith itself. Today in the lesson we see it in the Levitical codes about how the neighbor was to be treated. Fairness, justice, and even kindness were all part of how Jews were to treat neighbors. Exploiting, taking advantage of, or ignoring neighbors was prohibited within the faith of God's people. It was pretty plain.
It's the same today. The way we treat our neighbors is not just a nice thing to do. It isn't about what we get out of the relationship. God's people are not just kind and loving to those who return such, but instead our mandate is to love those God places around us as neighbors. It's not optional.
The good news for us is that sometimes we are the very neighbor receiving such a blessing, but loving our neighbor is always participating with God's activity and grace. We never know what a simple act of loving our neighbor might mean to the world...
When Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment, he responded with "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength... and your neighbor as yourself." Our Lord was not making up a new ethic or practice of faith, but instead responding with ancient Jewish observance.
The care of neighbors is as old as the faith itself. Today in the lesson we see it in the Levitical codes about how the neighbor was to be treated. Fairness, justice, and even kindness were all part of how Jews were to treat neighbors. Exploiting, taking advantage of, or ignoring neighbors was prohibited within the faith of God's people. It was pretty plain.
It's the same today. The way we treat our neighbors is not just a nice thing to do. It isn't about what we get out of the relationship. God's people are not just kind and loving to those who return such, but instead our mandate is to love those God places around us as neighbors. It's not optional.
The good news for us is that sometimes we are the very neighbor receiving such a blessing, but loving our neighbor is always participating with God's activity and grace. We never know what a simple act of loving our neighbor might mean to the world...
A great command from our Heavenly Father. If people would come to Him, what a beautiful world this would be.
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