Command 40 : Love Your Neighbor | Day 274

Love Your Neighbor!

Home at last! It was late at night and after several weeks of traveling, Tim was glad to finally pull into his own driveway. As the car was unloaded and the kids put to bed, he began making a mental checklist of the things he needed to take care of the next day. Most unpleasant on his list was cutting the grass. With all the rain they had been having, the grass would be very tall and probably take twice as long to mow.

The next morning as he ate his breakfast, he glanced out the window and was startled to see that his lawn had been mowed! Wondering who would have done it, he decided it must have been a kind older gentleman who lived down the street. Tim went to thank his neighbor and asked what he owed him for cutting the grass. "Nothing!" the man replied. "We're neighbors!"

It is this kind of willingness to look out for the interests of others as if they were our own that Jesus speaks of in this command:

Command Forty: “And the second [commandment] is like unto it [the first], Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39).

When Jesus stated that this command is "like unto it," He was referring to the preceding command to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind (see Matthew 22:37). The word translated like is the Greek word homoios, which means "similar (in appearance or character)." This statement made by Jesus is significant because we cannot genuinely love a neighbor unless we love God and His love is flowing through us to those around us. Furthermore, our love for God is perfected as we show love to our neighbors.

The connection between loving God and loving our neighbors is clearly seen in I John 4:20-21: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”

Jesus used the Greek word agapao, not phileo, for love in this command. Phileo describes a fondness toward, or affection for, others, whereas agapao indicates a direction of the will and finding one's joy in something. Agapao is the word most commonly used to describe God's love toward us and the kind of love that He wants us to have for Him and for our neighbors, who are created in His image.

This command is first mentioned in Leviticus 19:18: “... But thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD." Throughout the epistles, this command is further emphasized. Paul wrote, “... If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Romans 13:9; see also Galatians 5:13-14). James referred to this command as the "royal law" when he wrote, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well" (James 2:8).

Our motivation for loving others should be the fact that in so doing we also love God. (See Matthew 25:40.)

Violating this command produces conflicts and stress between husbands and wives, family members, coworkers, and fellow believers. Let's ask God to help us understand how to obey this command so that we can apply it to our lives and by so doing demonstrate that we love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind.