by Leah Irao
It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor. –Martin Luther
When we became Christians, we received a multitude of blessings. We have an assurance of our salvation and our place in heaven is secured. Even here on earth, we know that we will overcome all our troubles because our God already did. Do we then just sit back, relax and wait out? I hope not because Christ will not be pleased.
His commands are clear. We are to love Him with all our hearts, with all our strength and with all our minds. We are also to love others as we love ourselves.
To love others is not a choice; it is an act that we must do as Christians. Think of all the qualities of Christ. Recall all that He has done and is continuing to do in your lives. Relive the times when you had no one but Christ. All these and more is how we should be to others, how we should love others.
We have heard the phrases, “(w)hat would Jesus do?” and “(h)ow would Jesus do it?”. We thought of them as catchy and clever. Have we put them into use? In a given situation, have we paused to find out what indeed our Lord would do and how He would respond? We have always put our interests first and what would best for us. We are so unlike Him.
God first loved us. He gave His life for us even when we were unlovable, undeserving of His love. Knowing these truths should help us to love that rude co-worker, arrogant boss, irritable friend or demanding spouse because even though we were once like them (and still are at times), God loves us.
God knows that we will find it difficult to love others that He prepared in advance the good works that we are to do. Let us then draw wisdom, strength, courage and encouragement from Him as we do His will.
(Inspired by the Best Guide from Charles Spurgeon’s Everyday Religion)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.