Live Generously Towards Others
Another way of loving others is to live generously. This is another way of being kind and compassionate. It is also another way of putting others before ourselves. We need to care generously, give generously, and love generously. For God is abundantly generous to us.
28) Matthew 6:2 When you give to the poor, do not boast about it, announcing your donations with blaring trumpets as the play actors do. DO not brazenly give your charity in the synagogues and on the streets indeed, do not give at all if you are giving because you want to be praised by your neighbors. Those people who give in order to reap praise have already received their reward.
29) Galatians 6:2 Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
30) James 2:14-17 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but dont show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, Good-bye and have a good day stay warm and eat wellbut then you dont give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? 17 So you see, faith by itself isnt enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
31) Ephesians 4:28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.
Serving Your Neighbor Is A Sign Of Love
Kindness in action is serving from the heart. Kindness is one of the attributes of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13. Its funny that kindness can be done without kindness living in your heart. If you do the kind thing out of duty, its not love.
Jesus said he came to serve . God, who is love came to serve. Love serves. For you to love your neighbor as yourself, youll have a heart to serve them. Let them know that you are there for them. You can drive them if they need to go somewhere. You can also take care of their cat or dog while they are out of town. You can also get their mail or take them out for a meal if they arent well. In public settings, you might allow people to pass you while waiting in line at the grocery store or in traffic.
Love Your Neighbor By Looking Out For Their Well
1 Corinthians 13 is translated by the NIV as love protects. Philippians 2:4 says, Let each one of you look not just at his own interests but also those of others. To love your neighbor as yourself means to care for their wellbeing.
It is important to be attentive and look out for their needs. If they are in need of something, you can help them. You might notice that their clothing tag is visible or that they are eating. Or, something more serious such as when my neighbors toddler escaped and ran across the street. I was concerned for his safety so I went over to him. I was just about there when his grandma appeared and rescued him. She thanked me.
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Loving Your Neighbor Means Making Allowances For Other People’s Humanity
We live in a day and age when offense is as common as breathing. Criticism is running rampant. Love is not easily offended or critical. Everyone does dumb things no one is always right or knows everything. Were all a work in progress.
I remember sitting through a green light. I wasnt trying to inconvenience anyone. I got stuck in grieving daze because a family member died. I remember that when I encounter people driving too slow, sitting at lights, or even cutting me off. Maybe they have a reason. Maybe theyre just being human. Were imperfect beings that do dumb things often.
Giving people the benefit of the doubt is loving your neighbor. For example, I had a lady flailing her arms and cursing because I didnt go through an almost red light. She was behind me so got stuck at the red light with me. I dont know why she was so angry but she may have had other circumstances surrounding her that day. I prayed for her.
Who Qualifies As Your Neighbor In The Phrase ‘love Your Neighbor As Yourself’
As anyone probably would be wondering at this point, who is included as my neighbor nowadays? Remember that when Jesus gave this intuitive statement, neighbors were usually considered people in your village or town people you would usually see on a regular basis. Today, neighbor still carries some of the same sentiment, as we should share the love of Christ with those in our neighborhoods. But with the advantages of technology and travel now, our neighbors are now global and come from different races, cultures, and sometimes religious beliefs. But in Jesuss eyes, a neighbor is every living, breathing human God created and Jesus died for. They are the people who are closely walking with Christ, as well as those whose hearts God may still tranform.
Even Merriam-Webster Dictionary quotes from the Bible in saying that neighbors are not just those who live locally but our fellow man. So, it is safe to say that anyone who has a pulse is your neighbor and needs to be loved as you love yourself. The real question is how do you love your neighbor? Are you supposed to shower them with gifts, as though you were courting them, or flatter them with compliments, or always agree with them to avoid any kind of conflict?
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Loving Your Neighbor Means Showing Grace
Knowing God is love and that this love is for you is not enough. It needs to be developed. Imagine if you had a field of good soil and a bag of top notch seeds. Would they produce a crop all by themselves? No. The seeds must be planted and cared for. Grace takes the seed of His love and the soil of our heart and creates fruit for the kingdom of God.
The Bible says, its God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure . Loving Him and our neighbor pleases Him. Grace helps us do this. Grace teaches us proper love and respect for ourselves and for our neighbor. Freely receiving His grace empowers us to freely give it.
What Does It Mean To Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
The Bible teaches eight times that you should love your neighbor as yourself. It is not once. Not once. Eight times. God considers it so important to love your neighbor as himself that He repeats it eight times. Not just one command from a long list. Jesus combined the commandment to love your neighbor with his command to love God with all of our heart, souls, minds, and strength.
James refers to it as the royal law. It sounds wonderful, and it is beautiful when we follow it.
Its not always easy to love your neighbor as yourself. Its why God gave it as a command. He knew that we would struggle. It is to our advantage that we make it a commandment. How can that be? It is important to be deliberate about what you do. Sometimes, even out of necessity.
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Christian Quotes About Loving Thy Neighbor
The more we love, the more love we have to offer. So it is with Gods love for us. It is inexhaustible.
Love is the doorway through which the human soul passes from selfishness to service.
The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies probably because they are generally the same people.Gilbert K. Chesterton
Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbor act as if you did. C.S. Lewis
Love others so radically that they wonder why.
Dont wait for other people to be loving, giving, compassionate, grateful, forgiving, generous, or friendly lead the way!
Not everyone is your brother or sister in the faith, but everyone is your neighbor, and you must love your neighbor. Timothy Keller
Loving Your Neighbor Means Looking Out For Their Wellbeing
The NIV translation of 1 Corinthians 13 says, love protects. In Philippians 2:4 it says, Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Loving your neighbor as yourself is to look out for other peoples wellbeing.
To look out for them is to pay attention. You notice if they need something and then you help. For example, their clothing tag is sticking out or they have food on their face so you let them know. Or something more serious like when my neighbors toddler got out and crossed the street. Concerned for his safety, I headed over there. I was almost there when the grandma came out to intercept him and thanked me.
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Love Your Neighbor By Showing Grace
It is not enough to know that God is love and that God loves you. This is something that must be learned. Imagine you had a field with good soil and top-notch seeds. They would produce a crop by themselves. They cant. No. Grace plants the seeds of His love in our hearts and produces fruit for the kingdom.
According to the Bible, it is God who works in both us to his will and do of His good pleasure. . Love Him and love our neighbor. Grace is a grace that helps us to do this. Grace teaches us how to love and respect ourselves and our neighbours. We can freely receive His grace and be able to freely give it.
Loving Your Neighbor Means Serving Them
Serving from the heart is kindness in action. Kindness is one of the attributes of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13. The funny thing about kindness, though, is you can do acts of kindness without kindness residing in your heart. If the kind thing is done out of duty then it isnt love.
Jesus said he came to serve . God, who is love, came to serve. Love serves. For you to love your neighbor as yourself, youll have a heart to serve them. Let them know youre there for them. If they need a ride somewhere, you drive them. If they need their dog or cat checked on while theyre out of town, you do that for them. Other examples are getting their mail for them or taking them a meal if theyre not well. Examples in a public setting are to let people in front of you in line at the store or in traffic.
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Loving Our Neighbor Is The Same As Loving Ourselves
To love your neighbor as yourself as commanded, you need to measure correctly. This command requires you to measure yourself. You must love yourself to be able to love your neighbor as you are yourself. This is often misunderstood by the body of Christ. This is often confused with dying to oneself and denying oneself as if we have to destroy ourselves. It is false.
Jesus Christ died for every single one of us. Jesus loved us enough to endure what He went through, so we owe Him the obligation to value what He values. It is important to love the one He loves, which is us. Even the Bible says that the Father loves us just as Jesus loves him . We can not love the Father. Being able to love yourself prepares us to love others.
‘love Thy Neighbor As Thyself’ Is It Still Practical
A Christian Science perspective on daily life.
“Which is greener sun or tree?” headlined a story that ran last week in this newspaper. The article explained, “The Solar Shade Control Act went unnoticed for 30 years, but since December it has come up in several lawsuits”
The article featured a case in Santa Clara County, Calif., in which a man installed solar collectors on the trellis behind his house, but in order for them to effectively absorb the sunlight, something had to be done about the redwood trees in his neighbor’s yard. When his neighbors wanted to keep their trees, the disagreement eventually turned into a lawsuit.
While the conflict between solar panels and shade trees is relatively new, neighbors having conflicting interests is not. And even conflicts about how trees grow in one another’s yards have been around for years. Yet, so has the age-old Scriptural instruction, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” Can it still effectively address the complexity of contemporary disputes such as this one?
Two thousand years ago, that biblical command was spelled out in response to a questioner, asking which is the greatest commandment. The Gospel of Matthew records Jesus’ answer: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” .
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God’s Word To Us This Morning
God’s word for us this morning is that we take with tremendousseriousness this season of dealing with love at Bethlehem. That welet this picture stun us and remake our priorities. That we getalone with him and deal with him about these things. That we notassume that we fully know what love is or that it has the propercentrality in our lives. He is saying: All of Scripture, all of hisplans for history, hangHANGon these two greatpurposes: that he be loved with all our heart, and that we loveeach other as we love ourselves.
Loving Our Neighbors By Praying For Them
One way that we can grow in our love for others is to pray for them. Ask God to burden our hearts for them, and to help us love others the way that He loves us. them and our hearts become soft towards them. I encourage you to be intentional. Ask those around you how you can pray for them.
35) Romans 12:12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of Gods mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Godthis is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what Gods will ishis good, pleasing and perfect will.
36) Romans 5:6-7 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
37) 1 Timothy 2:1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
38) 2 Corinthians 1:11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
39) 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus.
42) Acts 1:14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
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The Bible Has A Lot Of Tough Commandments That Force Us To Push Ourselves
However, none is tasking as the command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
In fact, Mark 12:29 -31 tells us that this is the second greatest commandment, after the order to love God.
The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these”, He says.
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Here are five Bible verses that prove how important this commandment is.
1. 1 John 4:21 “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
2. Leviticus 19:18 “Forget about the wrong things people do to you. Don’t try to get even. Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
3. Matthew 25:40 “The king will answer them, ‘I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.'”
4. Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
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Sharing The Gospel With Our Neighbors
We are commanded to share the gospel with others. Jesus told us to in the Great Commission. We are to share the gospel with our neighbors the people in our immediate vicinity, as well as in the other side of the world.
We proclaim Christs Gospel truth, that He alone is the only way to God and that we must repent and place our faith in Him. This is how we truly love others.
17) Hebrews 13:16 Dont neglect to do what is good and to share, for God ispleased with such sacrifices.
18) 2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christs triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
19) Romans 1:9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.
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