Love Your Neighbor

1 John 2:7-11 “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

Matthew 5:43-48 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Love Your Enemies: It is easy to love those who love us (friends, family, team mates, people with like minds) but what about those who think differently than you? What about those who make fun of you for being who you are? You know, everyone is always telling you to be yourself, but half the time we get made fun of for being just that. (( The key there is to love who you are so long as you are in Christ, and worry more about what He thinks of you, and less about what the world says you should do. )) But how do we love our enemies?

Realize that they are lost, and only act the way that they do because they are lost.

or they are back slidden and only act the way they do because they are far from God.

Realize that they are made in the image of God, just as you are, and they are precious too.

John 3:16-17 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Pray for those who persecute you:

What is the point?

1.) Your love sets you apart. The world is cold. At their core, wordly people do not love others the way that God and His children love. John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

2.) You draw fly’s with honey.