We cannot truly love our neighbor as ourselves unless we are in a HSM (heart, soul, mind) relationship with Christ. Our human nature will always insist that we love ourselves more than anyone else. But if we are sold out HSM we will naturally love our neighbor as ourselves.
When we love our neighbor as our selves, we do not have many theoretical theological issues to haggle over. In every situation, we need only ask, is this how I would treat myself? We would not harm ourselves, we would seek only the best for ourselves, we would not gossip about ourselves. We would not cheat ourselves, or even cut in front of ourselves. We would make sure that ourselves would have the better parking spot, get the last muffin, and get the quietest room. We would do all in our power to get a good result for ourselves. If we would do these things for ourselves, we must do these things for others. No other discussion is necessary. It is that simple.
Yes, it is simple, but that does not mean that it is easy.
3 comments:
Thanks for posting on this topic. It is, after all, the most important topic! A couple of points...
1. I'm not sure that loving God is sequentially prior to loving neighbor. The first way to love God is by loving neighbor ("If you've done it to the least of these..."; "If you don't love your brother whom you can see...").
2. I don't think that loving our neighbor is ever really "natural" in the sense that it "just happens." I think it always requires intentionality, the kind of intentionality that only comes from consistent prayer and theological reflection, and long-term, caring relationships nurtured by meaningful conversation. Where can we find these things? In a church rightly ordered and functioning.
Chris, you make a good point. I agree that we do not necessarily love our neighbor because we love God. Loving our neighbor is a way for us to grow in our relationship to God. The two actions can and actually must be concurrent. The two commands, love God and love your neighbor are given equal billing. It doesn't say that doing the first one enables us to do the second. Thanks for bringing that important thought to my attention.
Randy,
I enjoy the conversation. More than that, I'm helped by it in various ways.
I'm not trying to strain at gnats. I'm making the point because I've found that talk about loving God can quickly degenerate into meaninglessness because we talk of loving God without every identifying what that looks like. How do we love God? What specific actions are we to take? What particular emotions/affections are we to have? We can't assume that people know what we mean by "love" - or "god" for that matter!
That's why the apostles - following Jesus, who was following Deuteronomy - provide us with "love your neighbor" and "love your enemy." Because they understood that that precisely is what loving God looks like! At least, that's the ultimate expression of it.
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