Be Loving
James 2:8,9 One law rules over all other laws. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbour the same as you love yourself.” If you obey this law, you are doing right. But if you are treating one person as more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law.
So, how often do you judge a book by its cover? Without being too judgemental, it’s likely that, if you’re being honest, the answer is … rather a lot. It’s the same for all of us. We make snap judgements.
Let’s drill down a bit deeper on that question. Do you have a different initial reaction when you meet someone who’s obese, compared to someone who’s a so-called normal weight? Or when someone’s well dressed, compared with someone who’s not? Or someone who’s good looking, compared to someone who, according to our societal standards, simply isn’t? Someone who’s kind to you versus someone who ain’t?
You get my point. We all judge books by their covers. And by and large, without even thinking about it, we give ourselves a free pass on that count. It’s just the way it is. Hmm.
James 2:8,9 One law rules over all other laws. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbour the same as you love yourself.” If you obey this law, you are doing right. But if you are treating one person as more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law.
Wow, perhaps you never thought of it quite that way before. This is a serious thing for God because each person, whether or not they seem agreeable to us, is made in the image of God; is loved by God in just the same way as He loves us!
So the standard for how we should treat others – the agreeable and the disagreeable – is quite simply this: Love your neighbour the same as you love yourself.
Friend, this is not, by any stretch of the imagination, rocket science.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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