Love Your Neighbour

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/26/walking-together

The dog walking with a fake limp when the owner was using crutches is the perfect picture of empathy towards another. Similar to us not bubling with joy or jokes in a funeral or with mourning friend. Or as non Muslims, we refrain from eating in front of Muslims during the fasting month. Showing empathy is thus one aspect of loving our neighbour that we can all easily relate to and practice.

Love is the fulfilment of the law declared Paul in Romans 13:10 and that’s very true because if we love our God with all our heart, soul and mind and love our neighbour, we will never commit the sins spelled out in the Ten Commandments. Loving God and loving our neighbour embodies the entire law in a nutshell, fulfilling the essence of what God had commanded previously as the condition to the Covenant relationship with Him.

Thus, if we have a friend who is broken or hurt or wounded, sometimes it is best to just tag along and walk alongside, instead of trying to fix him up. Maybe the longer term solution will be to fix some character flaw in him. But for the immediate future, just walk alongside him and emphatise with him. A lot of situations are beyond us. A lot of issues are not resolvable by us. But we can always be the friend who walks alongside him. We can be like Christ is to him. Christ may be able to solve his issues, but we can’t. Sometimes just to be a friend may be the best we could offer in the circumstances. For example, someone we know facing major challenges at work and is looking around, not necessarily we can offer him or her a job even if we are hiring. But we can be the ears for them to channel their frustrations and help them by sending out their CVs but another job is always still a question of the right fit.

On our part on the inside, if we love God and our neighbour, we should be able to fulfil the requirements of the law in the sense that we will not be living a life that is inconsistent with the law. Fulfilling the full requirements of the law is a near impossibility. That’s why Jesus died for our sins and became the Lamb of God and fulfilled the law once and for all. But if we love God and our neighbour, we should be able to meet the law within the grace afforded us by the blood of Christ as we are also empowered by the Holy Spirit.

As the external manifestation of the glory of God in our lives, the least we could do in my view is to walk alongside a friend in need. Help as much as we can but ultimately be a friend that emphatises. A friend that hears and is a shoulder to lean on. Love your neighbour as Jesus had commanded.