Love Thy Neighbor

Both in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, we are told that God’s fundamental rule about how we are to interact with one another can be summed up, “Love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18, KJV). In fact, out of hundreds and hundreds of Jewish laws about behavior and godly conduct, Jesus said that all of the laws basically relied on only two of them, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30–31, Matthew 22:37–39). The assumption that most people bring to this Golden Rule is that we all know we love ourselves and know how we want to be treated so therefore we should love others and treat them the same way. However, many people do not seem to have this basic, healthy love for themselves, which in turn makes it nearly impossible for them to love others any better.

If they can’t love themselves, then how can they express anything resembling unconditional love to anyone else?

It is difficult to impossible to teach someone else something that you have never experienced firsthand yourself. This dynamic explains why so many people have a hard time forgiving others and extending them mercy because they are unable to receive the grace God gives them and let go of the standard of perfection to which they hold themselves accountable. If our neighbor suffers from our unforgiveness as a result of our own self-contempt, then we are doubly punishing ourselves and them. Scripture makes it clear that we are commanded to love others as God loves us, and this exhortation includes loving ourselves—no matter how difficult this may be.