Love Each Other || Leviticus 19:18 || Manna for the Mind #73

Welcome to Day 73 of the “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series is about taking scripture passages (typically 1-3 verses) and building our understanding of their teachings through their context and connecting scripture. I believe that doing this helps us understand how to be the type of human that God created us to be.

Today’s passage is Leviticus 19:18, the older version of Jesus’ second greatest command.

Leviticus 19:18

18         “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Before we delve into the teachings of this passage, let’s understand its importance. Jesus, Paul, and James all quote this passage, referring to it as the ‘royal law’ and a fulfillment of God’s commandments. Now, let’s examine Jesus’ quote in Mark 12:29-31, focusing on verse 31.

Mark 12:29-31

29         Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.

30         And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

31         The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  No other commandment is greater than these.

When you love God completely and care for others as you care for yourself, you have fulfilled the intent of the Ten Commandments and the other Old Testament laws. According to Jesus, these commandments summarize all of God’s laws. The first four commandments represent loving God with all of who we are, and the remaining six talk about how to love our neighbor.

Loving God includes not having any other god but him. We may not have the idolatrous culture that the Israelites had, but we often worship clout, likes, followers, money, jobs, influencers, and more above and beyond God. God must be our primary focus.

Just like we shouldn’t put culture in front of God, we must not put an item or image that represents God in front of God himself. Why are our lives on the thing that is like God to us when we could have God himself? (See more on this in Exodus 32.)

You should not misuse his name. This is more than just not saying, “Oh my God!” like most of us were taught growing up. It’s not doing evil things in God’s name. Don’t misrepresent God.

Keep the Sabbath also! Use this day to connect with God (even though it should be daily), but rest after all the work you’ve done for the week. God didn’t create us to be human doings but human beings. God rested on Day 7 after he created the world and commanded us to do the same. Our society pushes the alternate, ever-producing, always-moving way of doing things. That’s why we get burnt out, stressed, anxious, panicked, depressed, and more. How often do we stop, rest, and reflect?

The one about how to love our neighbors feels easy, simple, and difficult all at once. Honor your mom and dad. I know not everyone has had the loving two-parent household that is often glorified, so I encourage you to think of it as honoring those who raised you, encouraged you, motivated you, and fulfilled the parental roles when your birth parents failed you.

Don’t kill them. Don’t cheat in a relationship. Don’t steal from one another. Don’t lie about them. (That one often connects to court testimony, but it’s good not to lie about them, regardless). Don’t be jealous of them. It’s telling us right there to put the demon of social media comparison out of our system.

These things should guide our thoughts, decisions, and actions. When we’re wrestling with what to do, we ask ourselves what the best way to share love for God and love for those around us is.

Paul teaches us this idea in Romans 13:9.

Romans 13:9

9            For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery, You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These – and other such commandments – are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Let’s talk about self-love here because it can be hard to understand how to love your neighbor if you struggle with caring for yourself. It can be hard to love yourself because you give your neighbor everything you have. This mindset creates a balance in our lives that we need to survive. Self-love is healthy and can be spiritual. If you struggle with low self-esteem, you are probably:

• Not letting yourself go hungry.
• Take care of your body, and even exercise.
• Clothing yourself reasonably.
• Make sure you have a roof over your head.
• Staying safe.
• Fighting for your relationships.

Now, some of us struggle with these things. I struggle with some of them myself. However, these have been strong guideposts to ensure I can build my foundation stronger than ever before. It’s been a complex process. It’s taken many years of therapy, providing enough resources around me to thrive, motivation from friends and family, and more. It’s about learning your boundaries to say no to others so that you can focus on these six things. Loving others as ourselves means we’re actively working to meet their needs while making sure we’re not pouring from an empty cup. Sometimes, we have to sacrifice our resources to make this work, but it’s a sacrifice that works for the good of humanity.

Listen to how Paul talks about this commandment in Galatians 5:14-15. We’ll focus on verse 14.

Galatians 5:14-15

14         The whole law can be summed up in this one command; “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

15         But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.

When we lose the motivation to love, we start to become critical of each other. We stop looking for the good in them and see only their faults. Sometimes, it’s hard to love someone, especially if they did evil/wrong to you, but Jesus teaches us to love our enemies. Jesus wants us to see the good in humanity still, even when humanity is crumbling. Cancel culture often makes it difficult to do so because of the constant flood with what someone did wrong and how we need to hold them accountable. Accountability is good and healthy when done with love. The constant stream of negativity that we receive, though, can put us in an unhealthy mindset and cause us to be bitter to those around us. Our mindset set to love allows us to see the world more positively and compassionately.

The author of Hebrews talks about how everyone includes all people. Hebrews 2:8-9 is where we’ll land, but we’re focusing on verse 8.

Hebrews 2:8-9

8            You gave them authority over all things.” Now when it says “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority.

9            What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.

God put Jesus in charge of everything, and Jesus revealed himself to us. We don’t see Jesus reigning on earth yet (this is when the second-coming occurs), but we can picture him his in heaven glory. Understanding Jesus’ role in the heavenly kingdom and sitting on the throne next to God is crucial. When you get confused by what’s going on in the world today and get anxious about what the future can be about, remember who Jesus is, his role, and the authority given to him about the world. Because of who he is, we can count on him to give us stability and insight about what we say and do daily. It may not always be easy or sound “normal,” given what we’ve learned from the world, but it is doable.

I’ll close with the words James says in James 2:8, which he called the royal law:

James 2:8

8            Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Simply put, James says that this law is the foundation of how people should connect.

Father God, thank you for the laws and rules taught to us in your Word. We may not fully understand or comprehend them, but we understand that all of it boils down to loving you with all of who we are and loving each other as your Son loved us. This command is sometimes difficult to do given what they’ve done and what the world says, but we don’t follow the world. Please give us the strength, courage, and wisdom to continue following your command above anything the world says. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.