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“Do You Love Your Neighbor As Yourself?”
Do You Love Your Neighbor As Yourself?
Wade Webster
The Bible commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It is the second greatest commandment, right after loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. In Matthew, we read, “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “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” (Mat. 22:35-40). No doubt, all of us would say that we love our neighbor in this way, but do we really? Let’s take a closer look and see.
If your house was on fire and you were inside, what would you want your neighbor to do? No doubt, you would want them to do everything that they could do to get you out. You would want them to pull you out of the fire. Well, that’s what they need you to do. Jude wrote, “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 22-23).
If you had been bitten by a deadly snake, what would you want your neighbor to do? No doubt, you would want them to do all that they could to help you get the anti-venom that you needed to live. Likely, you remember when deadly snakes bit the people in Moses’ day. God’s antidote was a brazen serpent on a pole. To live, individuals had to look on that serpent. Today, men have been bitten by a deadly serpent (Satan). Poison (sin) is rapidly spreading throughout their system. They need God’s antidote. Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:14-16).
If you were dying of hunger or thirst, what would you want your neighbor to do? No doubt, you would want them to share bread and water with you. Well, this is the condition that they are in, even if they don’t know it. Physically, they may have plenty. However, spiritually speaking, they don’t. They need the bread of life and the living water. Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe” (John 6:35-36).
If a thief or a murderer was breaking into your house, what would you want your neighbor to do? No doubt, you would want them to warn you. Well, the devil is a thief and a murderer. Jesus declared, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside” (Mat. 13:19). Again, He said “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
If a hungry lion was loose in your neighborhood, what would you want your neighbor to do? No doubt, you would want your neighbor to give you warning. Peter wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
If you were in darkness, and your neighbor had light, what would you want them to do? No doubt, you would want them to share the light with you. The world lies in darkness. We have the light. Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12).
If a wonderful gift was free to all who knew about it, what would you want your neighbor to do? No doubt, you would want them to tell you about it. Paul wrote, “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life” (Rom. 5:15-18).
How did you do in answering the questions above? Are you doing for your neighbor what you would want him to do for you?
