Articles
Loving Neighbors
One of God's commands, the one listed as the 2nd most important of all commands, is repeated several places in scripture.
"...Love your neighbor as yourself". Unless we despise our own lives and hate ourselves, this command pretty well sums up our whole duty to other human beings, and if it were applied appropriately, solves the world's problems, really!
And who is our neighbor? Jesus answered that question with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which when understood answers so many questions. Samaritans were looked down on as being despicable. They were in the ‘do not associate with’ category, the lowest of the low. Yet Jesus chose a Samaritan to answer the question of “who is my neighbor?” when describing who we are to love. Jesus used the Samaritan in His answer as the one who stopped and showed compassion after two supposedly religious people passed by choosing to do nothing. So if we seek the highest good for ourselves, then we are to do that for everyone.
You and I will never look another human being in the eyes that God doesn't love and value just as much as He does us and that Jesus didn't die for just as He did for us. So even people who the world might despise as the lowest of the low, they are our neighbor just like the folks next door who are "equal" to us on the man-made system that assigns us a position in society. God never did such a thing, He values every soul the same, regardless of our earthly status as assigned by mankind.
If only this command were understood and obeyed, our world would stop its bickering and backbiting, evil would cease to exist, and life as we know it would be the one God created us to live.
Of course, if we lived up to the first and most important command, the 2nd would not be such a difficult thing to accomplish.
Love the Lord your God with -
ALL your heart
ALL your soul
ALL your mind
ALL your strength (Luke 10:27 & repeated in other places)
