Published by When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus answered “— you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. — And the second, like it, is this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:30-31. So what is Love? The scriptures again tells us that “God is love” 1 John 4:8. So to love another is to act in a godly way towards them.
John in his epistle explains this love as follows, “In this love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent His only begotten son into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another”. 1 John 4:9-11
To be able to love another we must start with the self. We need to deal with issues that are confronting us now from an individual level before we can progress to our neighbors. We need to forgive ourselves where we have erred in order to be able to forgive others. We need to love ourselves before we can love others. We also need to seek forgiveness from others who have been hurt by our actions even when we felt justified to do what we did.
Jesus advocated a radical view towards love and forgiveness. He calls on us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. The teaching being that you have to go the extra mile to be the bigger person for love to be perfected. This theme of love is echoed throughout the New Testament. Paul in his writing adds “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; —rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;” Romans 12:9-10, 12
He further reminds us of Christ’s teaching on forgiveness and loving our enemies. He says “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. —Repay no one evil for evil. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.— Do not be overcome with evil , but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:14, 17-19, 21.
We must stop passing the buck and start taking responsibility for our own actions and utterances. Instead of pointing a finger at others, turn it first at yourself. Let us be guided by Paul’s’ words which echoes our calling as believers of God through Christ Jesus “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. —Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:8, 10. Love never fails!
