“Love one another.”
Jn. 13:24; 15:12; Rom. 13:8; Th. 4:9;
1Pet. 1:22; 1Jn. 3:11&23, 4:7,11&12; 2 Jn. 1:5
Next to the first commandment to love our Lord with all of
our being, Jesus tells us to love our
neighbor as ourselves. Mk. 12:30-31
Who is our neighbor?
According to Christ, our neighbor is any other human with whom we live or whom
we chance to meet.
What does it mean to
love another as oneself? Love
another according to the other’s “language” … as I desire to be loved according
to my “language”.
Let’s use a ‘husband and wife’ example:
Imagine that Jane and John have
just had an argument. Later, after having spent time with God and collecting
their thoughts, J&J come together to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.
Things are still fragile between
them so Jane buys John a gift of cologne as a sign of her love.
John receives the gift as a kind
gesture, but thinks to himself, “I wish she knew that ‘gifts’ just don’t do it
for me. If Jane ‘studied me’, like she did when we were dating, she would know
that my love language is physical touch followed by words of affirmation.
…Me, I do ‘study’ Jane, and Jane’s ‘language
of love’ is receiving gifts, followed by quality time. I want to love my wife
in her language of love, so I buy her perfume and take her to coffee. In doing so,
I love my wife according to her love language, loving her as I want to be loved.”
Do you see the difference? We can genuinely believe we are
loving another as we desire to be loved, but be missing the love boat altogether!
…We can speak beautiful and loving English to our smiling neighbor,
thinking that we are truly communing, and not realize that our neighbor only
understands Spanish.
Help us Jesus! Help us to see the people around us through
Your eyes and then love them accordingly. Amen.
In His unfathomable love,
Shaun and Betsy
