Hello,
How are you keeping? Here’s today’s Holy Nougat™
A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:39 NLT
Can you imagine what mistaken notions people would entertain about us if they were to assume that our treatment of our neighbors reflected the love we have for ourselves? Ouch. Not always a very flattering picture is it? I wonder why Jesus would insist that loving or neighbor is the second greatest commandment? Or further suggest that, alongside the greatest commandment, it sums up all the Law and the Prophets? To think that all the sundry and supplementary Laws to the Ten Commandments contained in the Hebrew Testament as well as the messages from the Lord via the Hebrew prophetic voices are ultimately about Love: Our love for God, our love towards ourselves which is then reflected in our love for our neighbor. Wow! That’s a lot of Love.
Because if we love others as we love ourselves, we might respond differently to people in many situations. Moreover, there is perhaps an even deeper question to be answered … Do we really love ourselves? And what does that look like in actuality?
And before we answer, let’s think about the gossip we share about ourselves daily based on our actions and comments (Ouch again). For there is a sense in which what we say and do actually tells others about ourselves. And sometimes, it’s not what we actually intended to reveal.
Today, let us ask the Lord to show us first where we’ve failed in loving ourselves, so that we might, in turn, love our neighbors as God has commanded us.
In Christ’s love and grace
