Love (For Neighbor): January 7, 2011

TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY JANUARY 7, 2011

LOVE
(FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR)

DEFINITION:

Affection for one another; any strong liking or affection.

SCRIPTURE:

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39

“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19:18.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

As we begin 2011 we have been talking about LOVE. The Bible tells us much about how and why we should LOVE our neighbor. Our neighbor as referred to in the scripture is just not the person that lives next door to us but those we associate with each day of our lives. This includes the rich and famous and the loneliest of all who may be living on the street.

Jesus reminds us in Matthew 22:38-39 that the first and greatest commandment is for us to love the Lord our God. And Jesus gave us a second commandment for us to love our neighbor as ourselves so that we could put into perspective in our minds the first commandment of loving God. If you truly love God, you will do things for God. Love is more then words it is an active experience. Love acts by showing and demonstrating itself. Any person who loves will freely do things for the one loved.

God does not need anything from us. He has all that He needs. There is only one thing we can do to show our love for God. In John 14:21, Jesus tells us that, “those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me.”

In order to keep God’s commandments, loving our neighbor is a requirement and not an option. When we do not love our neighbor we are guilty of breaking the law of God. Paul explains this in Romans 13:9-10: “For the commandments say, ‘you must not commit adultery, you must not murder, you must not steal, and you must not covet.’ These and other such commandments are summed up in this one commandment: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.”

Loving our neighbor not only fulfills the law, it is a debt we owe. In Romans 13:8, Paul calls it the “continuing debt to Christ because of His great love for us and the sacrifice He made for us.” One way we can repay this debt is to love our neighbors.

To love our neighbor arouses a question: “Who is our neighbor?” Christ answers that question by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. Every man is to be esteemed ever so highly and helped no matter who he is. Therefore our neighbor is everyone we come into contact with. I Corinthians 13:4-7 describes the Christian love that must be demonstrated in loving our neighbors. Love is patient; love is kind; love envies not; love is not puffed up; love does not vaunt itself; love is not easily provoked; love thinks no evil; love bears all things; love believes all things; love hopes all things and love endures all things.

We have taught our children and now they are teaching their children to reach out to those around them to help in their time of need. Our experience is that when we help others we get greater joy and a greater thrill then the one we helped. A man truly loves God only if he truly loves his neighbor.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Timothy 1:7.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and LOVE, and of a sound mind.

PRAYER:

Give me today a new burden for my neighbors. Help me to honor God and love Him with all my heart so my neighbors will see Christ through me. Open my eyes so that I may see people who need me and open my heart so that I may be tender toward their needs.