Lev
19:17-18 (ESV) "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you
shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear
a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor
as yourself: I am the Lord.
NOTE: Jesus said,
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I
have loved you, you also are to love one another." Yet, we see that this
is an old commandment from the OT. What is Jesus saying? The new commandment is
the spin added in Jesus' second phrase "just as I have loved you."
How has Jesus loved us? He sacrificed his very life for us. So the new
commandment is to practice sacrificial love for each other. Jesus' statement is
in the context of fellow believers "by this all men will know that you are
my disciples, if you have love for one another." But love is also to be
extended to our neighbor. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus expands the OT
definition of loving our neighbors to include our enemies as well, and to pray
for them. Love is a characteristic of the Christian life and to not show love
brings disgrace on the family name, as many shamefully do today. We should be
the most gracious and kind persons on the earth--not afraid to stand up for sin
and not afraid to love the unlovely. We people scorn us, we need to pray for
them. We don't return eye for eye, but we return love for ugliness. God, help
me to see where I subtly take vengeance on others with cutting words or feigned
empathy. I want to live the life of love that you lived as an example for me.
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