The whole time I was preparing for this message, I was completely afraid. But the night before as I was looking over everything, the Holy Spirit urged me to read further into a piece of Scripture I had chosen which was 1 John 4:7-21 and it reads:
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in Him and He is us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in Him and He in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like Him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because He first loved us. 20 If anyone says "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love His brother.
After I read that, I knew I had nothing to fear because in verse 18 it said there is no fear in love. And God is love. God lives in me. He lives in you... and He loves each of us, unconditionally. Since God so loved us, we also ought to love each other. And it's asked of us... In Mark 12:30-31 it says 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. Jesus emphatically stated that loving your neighbor is second only to loving God.
So who is your neighbor? It's not just the people sitting next to you, or behind you, that live next door to you, or sit next to you in class. It's every single person that you come into contact with every day.
If we love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and mind, loving our neighbor is the natural result. So how come if we love God, is this such a struggle sometimes? I think the secret in this is to recognize that our neighbor, no matter if we like them as a person or not, is just as worthy of God's love as you or I.
If you really love your neighbor, the first thing you will do is pray for them. As humans we are limited to how much we can help someone else, but God is limitless.
The Bible encourages us in Luke 10:37 to "go and do like-wise." To act as the Good Samaritan did. We are taught to help others in need, not because we feel an obligation to, and not because we expect some type of karmic reward. The reason we help others is because our hearts are supposed to be filled with the same unconditional love for mankind that God maintains. This isn't to say that we could ever entirely mirror God since we are only human. However, we are told to strive to act as Jesus would act even though perfection is unattainable. Continuing to strive for perfection, even knowing that it can never be obtained here on earth, shows God that we aren't seeking rewards for our actions, we're merely seeking to do what is right.
Being a good Christian is about being kind and compassionate to others, not about judging or rejecting someone based off their religion beliefs, culture, or color of their skin. The parable of the Good Samaritan is evidence that God wants us to place compassion above self-interest at all costs.
The one thing I want to leave you with, is the challenge to take loving your neighbor, and go out and live it as it is commanded of us.
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