7 February | EVERYONE
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19: 18
God asked His children in the Old Testament to love their neighbor as themselves. But who is your neighbor? Your neighbor is not only the person who awakens positive emotions in you, but everyone who is close to you, even if they have nothing that pleases you.
Love, as the basis of the Christian experience, is not a principle that begins in the New Testament. Love existed from the beginning and is as eternal as God. God is love (1 John 4:8). In Him, there is no change or shadow of variation (James 1:17). He loved us from the beginning when He created us in His image and likeness, and He will continue to love us unconditionally for all eternity because love is His character.
How can we love someone who offends or betrays us? Or love our enemies and those who seek our evil? Only when we have love, not as a duty, but as a principle that is an essential part of our character. There is no way to learn to love except through a daily experience of communion with the source of love, which is God. Only when we look at God as in a mirror are we transformed from glory to glory in His very image (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Can you not forgive the one who offended you? You cannot love a certain person who has traits that you dislike? Go to Jesus. Ask Him to dwell in you and to have His character of love reflected in yours. Let Him do for you what you are unable to do in your own strength. The kingdom of heaven is not for those who had much willpower to perform spiritual feats. It is for one of those who are humble enough to seek the Lord and plead for His grace and the likeness of His character.
Take Action
Think today of a person you do not like or cannot forgive. Look at them as Jesus would look at them. Ask God to help you forgive them and love them as yourself. Sing "Love Your Neighbor" (if possible, with your family).