As Yourself

Galatians 5 says…For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself.

This is impossible to do, alone.  We aren’t born loving our neighbors as ourselves.  We are born wanting food and drink, we want to pinch and pull, and we want to scream and get our way.  If you have children, you know what I mean.

As we show our children love through nurturing them, modeling loving acts, speaking our love to them, and pointing them towards the love of God, they begin to respond in like manner.

As we grow in our relationship with the Giver of Life, the one who gave his all, we are then able to love others.

Outside of that relationship, we might like others and enjoy them when they meet our needs and expectations, but we will then discard them when they don’t. 

It’s easy to spot adults who never received the good love of a father, because they are still screaming, pushing, and pinching.  We recently were the recipient of an act of anger in a theater, when I unknowingly kicked the back of the chair of a person in front of me.  She got up and sat behind my husband and I, and rammed our seats with her feet, calling me a horrible name.

I’m sad that the lady wasn’t able to politely tell me I kicked her chair, or that she wasn’t able to ignore what I did and move on, but I’m also quite acutely aware that she most likely was treated the same way herself, and it’s the only way she knew to react.

How we react to others, how we respond to their needs, and how we demonstrate the love of God, is paramount to life as a Christian.