God has declared the
new born man righteous and restored him to divine fellowship. The Spirit leads
the new born to manifest his new nature in thought and deed by giving life to a
new commandment. “And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Love thy neighbor may
be the most repeated, least understood, tenant of Christian faith. Love is not
a free pass to behave badly, nor is it a prohibition against assessing behavior
as right or wrong. Love is the motivation for ministering to need. “Repent and believe the gospel…” is not a
condemnation, but an invitation to healing. It was the main topic of
conversation when Jesus ate with publicans and sinners.
The key to real
understanding of love thy neighbor lies in the two words “as thyself.” There are occasions when we are disgusted, ashamed or
angry with ourselves. Sometimes we fell guilty; sometimes we are guilty. We
hate the sin that wounded a good person like us. But, we love ourselves even
when we don’t like ourselves or what we’ve done. We ever hope for our own redemption,
forgiveness, and acceptance. Because we are not perfect, we want to be treated
with mercy. The new birth is God’s free gift of mercy, redemption, forgiveness
and acceptance for man. Loving our neighbor as ourselves is simply extending
the love we’ve experienced to everyone else without regard to worthiness.
Love not only can, but must,
say to the lost: “This is the way, walk
ye in it…” Hate and indifference let others pass by to destruction. Love
shouts a warning. Those who see the kingdom are compelled to point the way.
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