Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Love others as yourself

“And the second like it, it this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these," Mark 12:31.

“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just at the Lord does the church," Ephesians 5:29.

To those who love Christ,

We are commanded to love others the same way we love ourselves... Especially members of Christ’s Body. As we tend to, and pamper our own flesh, we should love other members in Him. This is because we are all one Body. The way we treat others is the way that we treat ourselves. Here we have two sides of one very important spiritual truth. I am commanded to love others as I love myself, and the way that I love others is the way I love myself!

I would like to emphasize two very important aspects of this great truth. First of all, love is not an event. It is a commitment for life. The moment I stop loving, I start working against myself. I am commanded by God to love all people...Those who are fellow members in Christ...And those who potentially could be reconciled into His Body.

I am always amazed when couples come for counsel concerning their broken marriages. Usually the first words out of their mouths are that they no longer love each other. This immediately tells me they have severed their individual relationships with God. He commands us to love even our enemies!

Secondly, we can only love others if we receive the love of God for ourselves. God is love. There is no love apart from Him. I cannot share His love with others, or even give any love back to Him, if I have not first received it for myself.

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. It requires commitment to Christ that is willing to go to the cross. It will never turn back, even under the most adverse circumstances. It will always do what is best for the one loved (this does not mean that love will give the person what they want, but rather what they need). We cannot treat love like a win/win proposition. You cannot give a little to get back more for yourself. Love is willing to lay your life down for another. Love never fails (1Cor. 13:8).