"Love your neighbors as yourself"
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
We hear these commands and rules all of the time, usually because we are doing the opposite of that at the time.
How many of us are so inlove with ourselves that we overlook our neighbor?
Think about this: you are at the grocery store and you are in a hurry. You pull into the parking lot and see the perfect space right up close to the door, but as you round the corner this older woman jerks her car in and gets the space. What do we do? Do we say, "God bless her Lord. I'm glad she could get that space up close to the door since she is elderly and it is probably hard for her to walk a far distance."???? Or do we mumble under our breath or maybe even yell out at her in the car? How do we respond in situations like this?
Because how we respond to everyday situations just like this one are evidence of the characteristics of God that is alive within us.
We are to go out of our way to help others. We are to take food over to the family where the husband just lost his job. We are to pick up the kids that are walking to school all of the time because the mother just had surgery on her leg and can't get out to take them right now. We are to love them like we love our family, better yet...like we love ourselves.
Do we honestly hurt when we hear that a friend is having some medical problems? Do we truly care that our friend is upset about a family member going in the wrong direction? Does it effect us as if it were us? It should.
We are to be imitators of Christ and Christ does hurt when we hurt. He does cry when we cry. He does laugh when we laugh. If we are imitating Him, then we should care as He does.
No it is not easy. We live in a very busy world and have very busy lifestyles, but we need to show Christ' love to the world...and one way to do that is by "loving our neighbors as we do ourselves".
Get it in your head today to be "friendlier" to others, to be more considerate of the gentlemen at the grocery store or the woman at the mall with 5 children or the next door neighbor walking their dog.
Look around and find opportunities to share and put others before yourself.