Love Your Neighbor

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

Why didn't he say, "love your neighbor like you love your family, your job, your hobby, or your favorite pastime?" He could have named anything under the sun, yet he chose to say 'as yourself.'

Because He knows just how much, albeit often misrepresented, we really do love ourselves.

Think about it. We know us better than anyone else in this world; even with all the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of us, we choose to love us anyway.

We accentuate our strengths. We highlight our successes through various platforms. We give ourselves "shout-outs" and "hashtags" and place the best we have on all of our social media outlets. It's evident to those around us what we consider to be highlight worthy moments in our life.

We abbreviate our weaknesses. We often neglect mentioning our shortcomings and pitfalls. Those miscalculated efforts resulting in failure are often conveniently left out of stories at the office or dinner table. Our comparison game with others is usually made with those who we deem as inferior to our extraordinary skills.

We accelerate our passions. Passions, be it our relationships, hobbies, or other forms of entertainment, are placed on the forefront of our list of priorities. The personal pleasures we experience are constantly being placed on the mantle of our passions, praises, and prizes.

We accommodate our schedules. Busyness has become the new normal. It's as if to say that busyness equals popularity or productivity. We're constantly searching for the next measure of meaningfulness, denying one person's proposition for 'more important' invitations from new acquaintances. We're constantly making a barrage of appointments to ramp up our level of importance.

Loving ourselves in unhealthy ways can be prideful, arrogant, and selfish. But loving others with the love we once held for ourselves can create healthy, humble communities.

What God wants us to do is place others ahead of ourselves. Lift others up. Give grace to their imperfections. Make time for developing relationships. Build bridges to help them reach their potential.

We will never love others the way God intended until we first recognize the love He has for us. In the midst of His perfection lies our depravity. Yet He sees us as important. He has placed a priority on us above His own convenience. And our willingness to reciprocate His unwavering love becomes a catalyst for the new found love we can now have for others.