Love thy neighbor

​"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."—Matthew 19:19

Perhaps we spend too much time and energy deciding who we should love and who we should not. We weigh people with our own biases. We often get it wrong and, in the end, we are to just love people. Loving others is a matter of displaying kindness, consideration, and compassion, even toward those who treat us the opposite. We find the closer we get to God, the easier this becomes. That’s because self decreases and righteousness increases.

“By the word neighbor, we are to understand any person who is near us. It comes from two old words, nae or near, (near) and buer, (to dwell) persons residing, or being near us, and if anyone in the world is near us, he is our neighbor. The Samaritan, when he saw the wounded man on the road to Jericho, felt that he was in his neighborhood, and that therefore he was his neighbor, and he was bound to love him. "Love thy neighbor." (Charles Spurgeon)

The people that we come in contact with may be different from us. The way we are treated may hurt us to the core, but “Hard words will not convert anyone. We are to “Love others straight on; their sin is not against us, but against God.” Though they persecute us, and say all kinds of evil against us falsely, for Jesus’ sake, we should rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because we have chosen righteousness over self.

Love thy neighbor!

GiGi❤️