Love Your Neighbor

This, of course, is not an all inclusive focus on love; I am just barely scratching the surface.

One of the most powerful, complex, and yet sometimes underappreciated and not properly understood  word in our English language is the word love.  I believe it to be a root word to many more descriptive words.  From love we get compassion, infatuation, cherish, passion, care, like, enjoy, sympathy, adore, treasure, and many, many other words on how to capture how we love someone or something.  We also get the words respect, honor, admiration, and allegiance just to name a few.  If I were to just use the word love to say," I love those flowers".  You would most likely associate that statement alone to mean something like, adore, or enjoy.  I wouldn't honor them or have an allegiance to them.  Now perhaps you knew the underlying meaning behind my statement.  Do I love them because of I enjoy their smell or perhaps does it go deeper than that?  Do I love them because my mother liked those flowers and we would plant them together each spring?  Do I love them because of that memory is fond?  Or do I love them because of the beautiful color and complexity that our Creator poured into them?  Understanding the word love is not that easy for us to comprehend when we just say that we love something or someone.  The Bible uses love in several complex ways and depending on your Bible translation you may lose more than the original language of Greek (NT) or Hebrew (OT) had intended the usage of the word to be communicated.  In the ESV the word love occurs 552 times in 506 verses.  (BlueLetter)

Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. (Matt 5:17)  And in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."  God the Father gave His son to die for us on the cross.  This was the ultimate form of love.  The word love used here has a deeper meaning.  It is the Greek word agapaō (verb) the more commonly known word is the Greek word agape (noun).  This is the sacrificial love; it's a selfless, spiritual love that our God, who created us, has done for us.  God sacrificed his son so we could live eternally with Him.  Jesus was the final sacrifice that ended all sacrifices; this is why He is called the Lamb of God (John 1:29).  "God so loved the world" or in other terms he loved the world dearly that He would have His son die for us "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". (Rom 5:8) 

Jesus gave us a great commandment to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt 22:36) and "you shall love your neighbor as yourself".  (Matt 22:39)  So what did Jesus mean by loving your neighbor?  He meant that you are to love your spouse, your mother, father, siblings, children, coworkers, your neighbor, your boss, people who you don't like and even your enemies.  You are commanded to love your enemy and pray for them.  (Matt 5:44) 

Let's focus on one area--your spouse.  If you are married this is for you.  If you're not married but maybe one day will be married, this one is for you.  If you're not married and will never be married or have married and have divorced, then this one is for you.  And all others, if there is a category, this one is for you too.  For the remaining of this particular section substitute spouse for anyone you would like to and it will apply. 

Your spouse, no matter how much you may disagree, deserves love.  Let me give you a few examples.  Countless times we see friends, coworkers, family members, and others talking about their spouse in a non-loving and even derogatory way.  Even worse we partake in their slandering and gossiping.  Phrases like, "she goes shopping way too much while she should be doing something else", "he never finishes anything", "I can't trust them at all", "they're worthless", "they spend way too much money", "I just wish that they would do this" just to name a few.  This is dishonoring your spouse.  Paul says in Ephesians not to let "corrupting talk come out of your mouths" (Eph 4:29) nor " filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place" (Eph 5:4).  Paul's also talking about jokes in ill taste.  Keep in mind your spouse is part of you (Gen 2:21-24) and when you speak crudely against your spouse you not only defile them, but you defile yourself.  (Matt 15:11)  If you're not married and using a friend or coworker for this example, they are not part of you but you are still defiling yourself when you speak against them and not loving them as you are commanded to do so by your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If you do speak poorly against your spouse, whether or not you feel justified in doing so, you need to stop and think about what you are doing.  Instead pray this prayer:  "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Ps 19:14) We also need to encourage one another with love.  (Heb 10:24-25)  We need to be mindful of what we think, say, or do.  We are sinning when we treat our spouse this way.  Many times we do it without thinking.  We need to turn to God and pray that we make Godly decisions and speak Godly words.  We are told to pray without ceasing or continually.  (1 Thes 5:16-18, Rom 12:12, Acts 6:4, Eph 6:18)  If you choose to lash back at them, again whether you feel it's justified or not, you're sinning.  Think of it this way:  You're punishing them.  Where in the Bible does it say that you're responsible for punishment?  Our punishment comes from God the Father.  He will judge those who sinned against Him and pour out His wrath for sinning against Him.  But the most beautiful thing is that Jesus took the punishment for us.  (Isa 53:5, 1 Pet 2:24)  He died so we would not be punished for our transgressions.

So the next time you feel compelled to retaliate against your neighbor think of what Jesus has done for you and what He has asked you to do--love your neighbor.

All Bible references are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) Crossway http://www.crossway.org/  Copyright © 2001 – 2011 Crossway. All rights reserved.