December 29, 2008

Love Your Neighbor

Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes [are due], customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. 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 13:7-10 NKJV)

Love does no harm to a neighbor. How simple could it be? All the law is summed up in this one thought. We make things too complicated sometimes don’t we?

If you want to be pleasing to God, just love your neighbor as yourself. It’s easy, isn’t it? Well there is the problem of loving self a little too much. God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves because He knows we all love ourselves. This affinity for self is the problem ultimately. To love others we must deny ourselves.

Jesus was clear that to be His disciple you must deny yourself. Notice,  “When He had called the people to [Himself], with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35 NKJV)

Therefore, while the concept is easy, the doing of the thing is hard. The secret, if you can call it that, is to live for the future fixing your eyes upon Jesus. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares [us], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NKJV)

Why did He endure the cross? According to the passage above, He did so for the joy that was set before Him. Is your hope in this world or the next? We too are encouraged not to grow weary. Die to yourself and you will be able to love your neighbor as yourself. Amen.