Loving Others as You Love Yourself
We all love ourselves, so Jesus’ command to love our neighbor is based on our natural love of self. We all have a drive inside of us to be happy and think of ourselves first. No one has to teach a 2-year-old to be selfish. It is their natural default.
Notice that this is not a command to stop loving ourselves or to stop having needs that need met. Instead, Jesus says to love your neighbor AS yourself. The key word is “as.” In the same unstoppable way that you feed yourself, seek to be loved, or seek comfort, you should purpose to love, feed, and comfort others. You tend to your own physical and emotional needs. We should make sure these needs are met too in the lives of those we connect with each week.
As you interact with the many people you encounter in your life this week, remember the words of Matthew 22:39. May the degree of our self-seeking be to the degree of our self-giving.
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