“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’”
Matthew 22:37–39 NKJV
When Jesus said the second commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself, He was giving us a benchmark. The way you treat yourself is the measure. In simple terms, treat people the way you want to be treated.
Who is your neighbour? Naturally, we call a neighbour someone who lives next to us. The person on your street, in your compound, in your building. But in truth, your neighbours are the people on the earth with you. The colleague. The stranger. The believer. The unbeliever. The difficult person. The easy person. All of them.
You cannot claim to be a believer and not love others. The Bible says, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20 NKJV)
It is impossible to genuinely love God and consistently despise people made in His image.
Many of us, if we are honest, have fallen short in our love walk. We treat people like they do not matter. Like they are beneath us. Like they are an inconvenience. We forget that God loves them just as He loves us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NKJV)
Jesus did not die only for you. He died for them too. We are not better. We are recipients of mercy.
So what does loving others actually look like?
It looks like treating them as the beloved of God, not as a disturbance in your day. It looks like extending grace, kindness, and patience when they fall short, without condoning what is wrong. Love does not mean endorsement. The Bible says, “but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.” Ephesians 4:15 NKJV
Sometimes love corrects. Sometimes love confronts. But it does so with humility, not superiority.
Loving your neighbour who is not yet your brother in Christ should also be accompanied by reminding them, in words or in action, that Jesus loves them and is waiting for their yes. It means living in such a way that they can see Christ through you.
Love says, I am here if you need someone to talk to.
Love says, if you need help and it is in my power to do it, I will not withhold it. The Bible says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.” Proverbs 3:27 NKJV
But the truth is, we cannot do this in our own strength. We can only love like this by the grace of God. “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5 NKJV
It is His love in us that enables us to love others.
Prayer
Father, I come before You, and I ask that You help me love people. I confess that sometimes my love has been conditional. Sometimes my love has been selective. Sometimes I have allowed hurt, disappointment, and offence to close my heart.
Lord, heal every place in me that is still wounded. Heal the hurt that makes me withdraw. Heal the offence that makes me hard. Remove bitterness from my heart.
Teach me how to love my neighbour. Teach me how to treat people as the beloved of God. Give me grace to extend kindness and patience. Help me to correct in love when necessary, and to speak truth without pride.
Let Your love, that has been poured into my heart by the Holy Spirit, flow through me to others. Make me a reflection of Christ in the way I respond, the way I speak, and the way I show up for people.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
