Loving Others Well

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

ANY PARENT of a toddler knows that self-love does not need to be commanded or taught. It comes so very naturally to us. We all have a powerful instinct to take care of ourselves —to diminish our own pain and increase our own happiness. And this instinct is not necessarily evil. There’s nothing bad about wanting to be safe or healthy or respected or to have our needs met. There is nothing wrong with our kids wanting to do well in sports or school or to enjoy nice clothes and fun activities. But this natural tendency can become evil, and Jesus’ command in Mark 12 reveals whether our self-love has become evil.

The heart of this command to love our neighbor as we love ourselves means that we are to be as committed to the comfort and safety of our neighbor as we are to our own. Jesus calls our kids to desire good friends for others as much as they want good friends for themselves, to be as committed to others getting recognition for achievement as they are to receiving acknowledgment themselves.

When we truly understand the weight of this command, we realize that we and our children need supernatural help to love the Lord in this way and to love others to the degree that we love ourselves.

Lord, as we consider this important command, we are undone by it. Our innate love for ourselves keeps us from loving you in the all-encompassing way you require and keeps us far more committed to taking care of ourselves than we are to meeting the needs of others. We know that only one person loved you and loved his neighbor in this perfect, self-giving way. Our desire is that as we abide in Christ, this kind of love will increasingly become our way of life.