To Love our Neighbor … Luke 10:27 (09/25/13)
To get to Heaven, Jesus made it clear that we must “Love our neighbor” (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:30-31 & Luke 10:27) … For most Christians the wording of this commandment is well-known, and yet what many folks do NOT understand is just what Jesus meant by them.
For Jesus, “the Kingdom of Heaven” was NOT someplace we go for eternity after we die, but rather is a state of Being available to all of us right in our current Here&Now (Luke 17:20-21) …
For Jesus, “Love” was NOT a fuzzy feeling or a friendly word, but rather a courageous action done for another. For Jesus, LOVE was a verb (John 13:17) …
And most importantly, for Jesus, a “neighbor” was NOT a member of our family or our circle of friends or our community or our church, but rather was our ENEMY (Luke 10:25-37 + Matthew 22:35-40) …
So, merely using the definitions that Jesus himself provided us in the Bible itself, Christians and non-Christians alike can clearly see that “Love your neighbor” does NOT mean to be nice to your friends, but rather means to be actively Kind towards your enemies.
On a practical level, this means …
*that if you are a Democrat, your greatest Bliss and your greatest emPowerment will come when you chose to be actively Kind to Republicans (and vice versa),
*that if you are a human rights advocate, your greatest Bliss and your greatest emPowerment will come when you choose to be actively Kind to racists or homophobes or any other kind of bigot,
*that if you are poor, your greatest Bliss and your greatest emPowerment will come when you choose to be actively Kind to the wealthy (and vice versa),
*that if you are a vegan, your greatest Bliss and your greatest emPowerment will come when you choose to be actively Kind to meat-eaters, hunters and animal abusers,
*that if you are lover of Peace , your greatest Bliss and your greatest emPowerment will come when you when you choose to be actively Kind towards President Obama &/or any other war-mongering politician, and …
*that if you are Christian, your greatest Bliss and your greatest emPowerment will come when you choose to be actively Kind towards Muslims & Buddhists & atheists (& members of any other religion).
Kindness isn’t awesome because it is “morally right”, my Friends …
Kindness is awesome because IT WORKS.
But don’t take my word for it … Go and see for yourself!
;