An Act of Love

To love your neighbour is not an act of obedience, as some tend to believe, but rather, is an act of love free of condemnation. To genuinely love another who is your polar opposite in culture, values, up-bringing, sexual orientation, creed and perception of God, is not easy, however that’s exactly what this great commandment urges us to do. Following directly after the first and greatest, which is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind” indicates to us that it is indeed a consequence of the first. It shows that it is only when we allow the love of God to transform our hearts that we can then move towards acts of sacrificial, non-judgmental love. 

A heart transformed by God’s love can do nothing else but act out of love. In order for us to understand what neighbourly love is, Jesus left us with the parable of The Good Samaritan (see Matthew 22:34-40). Separated by centuries of animosity and divergent religious practices, beliefs and values, Samaritans were despised by Jews, yet Jesus’ cleverly woven tale of the innate goodness of man borne from godly love, has as its hero, a man of Samaria, a perceived enemy. 

An act of love demonstrated to us by that person who we have always considered to be an unworthy, un-lovable social outcast may prove awkward, even insulting, but God wants us to cast off our pride and our prejudices and see every aspect of His beautiful, praise worthy creation in every human being. He wants us to see others as He sees each one of us, not as the broken reflections of His divine nature that we are, but as reflections of His perfect Son, through an amazing transforming love which He alone can manifest in us. 

God’s love for us in Christ Jesus, His beloved Son, is a deep, wide, all-forgiving love that brings a grace that is greater than all our sin. To love our neighbour, is an act of love that refuses to allow us to love based on our judgments of them and their judgments of us. 

Amen†

An Act of Love

Shelley Johnson August 1, 2017