Article September 4, 2017 Issue

Love your neighbor? It can take courage!

David Clark Scott

Love my neighbor? Are you kidding me? Given our history, I could get punched out by that guy!

Christ Jesus said the two great commandments were to love God and your neighbor as yourself (see Matthew 22:34–40). Loving God, the creator of all beauty and grace, seems relatively logical and not too difficult. But loving my neighbor? In my experience, sometimes that can take real courage.

Of course, we may argue, times were way different back in Jesus’ day. Surely, Jesus didn’t mean that today’s liberals must love conservatives, and vice versa? Did he mean that Christians today should love other Christians who, for example, share very different views about social issues? Should Shia Muslims love Sunni Muslims? Southerners embrace Northerners? What about whites and blacks?

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Pray as if you mean it