Love your neighbor - Part 2

 

Love your neighbor – It’s not a suggestion

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Throughout the Bible, in both the Old and New Testament scriptures it tell us, yes it even commands us as Christ-Followers, God’s People, Women of God and God’s Girls, to Love Our Neighbor as ourselves. Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31 are just a couple.

It’s easy to think that religious ceremony, going to church, devotion and Bible Study are more important than love for God and our neighbor, but it isn’t the case. A thousand empty burst offerings or meaningless good faith gestures do not mean more to God than a single act of love done in His Name.

God didn’t say it would always be easy but He does promise to never leave us or abandon us. We can do so much more in Him and in His strength than we are able to do in our own. Be careful whose company you keep and whose voices you listen to.

-      * We ARE each other’s neighbor

-      * We ARE to love each other

-      * We ARE to respect each other despite our differences and differences of opinions

-      * We ARE to build each other up and

-      * We ARE to encourage each other.

In the same way we take care of ourselves and are concerned about our own interests, we should take care and have concern for the interest of others. Especially in the age of Social Media, its so easy to hide behind the screen, re-Tweet or share a post without thinking of it’s impact on the reader. We should always ask ourselves, “is this necessary and how will it benefit or affect others?” Stop and think, “Is this truly loving my neighbor as myself?” We cannot allow the news or other distractions to lead us away from God and our peace. Stop amplifying and giving voice to toxic messages and social media posts. These only lead to toxic thinking and harden hearts. Your mentality will become your reality.

I often ask myself, “What Would Jesus Do” if He were walking among us, listening to our conversations, reading our social media posts? As Christ-Followers, demonization and dehumanization does not look good on us and is just wrong. God is not a genie – He is not a person, nothing and no one can make Him disappear – think about that long and hard.

Dare to make a difference, to be different. When we come out on the others side of this wilderness experience, will your have had a positive or negative impact on others? Will your neighbor say, I felt the love; “Thank you for loving me?” We need to be kind considerate of others – even those who don’t look like us or talk like us.

Jesus Makes Us Different! Dare to be different. Dare to let Jesus do a New Thing on the inside of you! Allow God to do all He needs to do in your life – give Him the controls. Let’s Walk in HIS Purpose. Amen!

 

~ Cheryl ~ #2020Blessings #Grateful