God’s word is quite clear. As believers, we are to love others as we love ourselves.
James called this the “royal law” (James 2:8) and Paul called it the law that sums up all other laws (Galatians 5:14). Jesus described two laws which are the greatest of God’s commands. We are to love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul, and we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. God is love. We cannot question what we are supposed to do.
We can question how we carry out such a command.
How do we get to the point of loving others as we love ourselves?
First, we have to recognize our inadequacy. Before we can grow and change, we have to acknowledge our need. We must acknowledge to ourselves and to God that we are not at the point of loving others as we love ourselves
Second, we must seek what God can do for us. If we depend on ourselves to do this, we will only get what we can do. If we depend on God to bring change in our lives, we will get what God can do through us.
Third, we must pray daily for God to bring change and help for our lives. He knows this is hard for us. As we pray for our needs, He will provide what we need.
Fourth, look for people to love. As I do this in my life, three things happen. (1) I notice many more people who need the blessings of someone who loves them. They are everywhere. (2) As I seek to love other people and go through the struggle to do so, God blesses me. It is more blessed to give than to receive. This is the case no matter what you are giving. When you give love to others you will be blessed. As you love others, you will receive a blessing which you cannot imagine. (3) Love becomes more natural because I am practicing the discipline of caring for others.
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3 Responses
Yes, Sir, the 3 C’s —
1) Love God Completely
2) Love self Correctly
3) Love Others Compassionately
This goes right along with JOY
Jesus
Others
you
Sadly, we are a society filled with people who cannot love their neighbor as themselves because, they do not even like themselves. How do I know this? We take care of the things we ‘love’ for example, a shiny new car, or a new golf club or a fishing pole, a shotgun, a vase, anything really. You will clean and wax and polish and display,,,,,,but what about your own self?? If you ‘love’ yourself, shouldn’t you feed and exercise and properly care for that thing that God calls us to ‘love’?? We are a people ‘in love’ with ourselves, exterior decorating our ‘self’ decorating our hair and our fingernails and all sorts of things, but not properly loving and caring for the ‘self’ as God has called us to do. Self absorbed, because the ‘world’ says this is what we need to do to ‘fit in’ — God says we are in this world but not of this world.
It is only when we grasp who we are and whose we are and what the man did for us on Calvary, then we can take our eyes off the world with its empty and lying promises of happiness, it is only then that we can love ourself because we know he first loved us. Now His love can flow thru us to others,,,, now, we can love our neighbor as ourselves. There is power in the blood! May the God of the Bible richly bless anyone who reads these words. : )
😉
The following is a response to a Republican Bolger with whom I generally find many points of agreement. He nearly always is “politically correct” in leaving any reference to God, the Bible, or Christ out of his rhetoric.
As long as the battle against God continues and takes more ground these issues will continue. Morality cannot be legislated or dictated. What are you doing to bring Light to push back the darkness overtaking us all, this side of Eternity?
I ran for office, Councilman District 5 2003 and At-Large 2007, and those in the “educational” community worked against my effort to improve communication and self-reliance on a local level. The Purpose Statement of Jefferson Parish Museum was challenged for giving God the Credit for its founding and the story it was created to tell by an “educator” well respected in our community. What passes as “truth” is far from “Truth.” The community allows it on the local level, as well as supports the twists to shape a reality fertile for the animal behavior propagation you describe; which seeks the immediate gratification or need for self without regard for others beyond their own cell. The basic behavior of a primitive society, which shunned the People of God from the beginning, has seen many opportunities to push back the shadow of darkness with Light. Each time corruption came from within “light” demoralizing and corrupting the purpose of the Light calling its purpose “delusional,” “self indulgent,” bigoted” and many other adjectives that from the perspective of the Light describe the behavior and short sighted understanding of the attackers of Light.
An even sadder reality is many of those who throw rhetorical stones at the administration also use the tools of darkness “in the Name of Light” with the best of intentions. Yet, miss the mark as well as block the cleansing Power of Light to be used as designed. Romans chapter 12 is only 21 verses. It is concise, precise, from God’s View instruction for those who would See and effect His Design. Have you read the book of James?
Where do you stand? People have died to facilitate the application of a “Social Gospel.” Now people protest the application of a “Social Gospel” while in the same breath prohibit the Name of God, distort the application of the Golden Rule, the Royal Law: the Greatest Commandment and the Second like unto the Greatest – the Action of Application. May we each be careful in the use of hyperbole.
Blessings.