Love Your Neighbour

https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/08/loving-our-neighbors

It is interesting to note that as we dwell deeper into the Word, we learn the rationale and background as to why certain instructions or commandments were instituted. For example, love your neighbour. It was meant to instill unity in the community so that there is harmony between the people who were closely knitted and depended on one another for protection against attacks from outsiders. In that context, we will harm ourselves if we have hatred or ill feeling towards another person within our community, the same way everyone should be together in an infantry platoon fighting a battle or a team playing football.

The point is our action against a neighbour will harm ourselves. We see this clearly in the recent pandemic where it actually affected the whole world. If indeed it is true that it was an intentional US biological warfare deployment as China had contended or it was a failed Chinese biological warfare experiment as the US had contended, it certainly affected everyone including the alleged perpetrators themselves! Covid was the perfect example of how something if it had been done on purpose did not only affect the intended person but everyone as well as the perpetrator.

The LORD set rules for our own good. We don’t see it immediately but often times our adverse actions will come back to bite us. In actual situations like disunity in a community may bring about defeat in a battle or purely divine retribution like some sort of punishment for sin as in the case of David. There is and will be justice whether we see it or not and whether it is now or later. Thus the best way forward is always to do good and not evil. There is much wisdom when the LORD instructs us to love our neighbour. Likewise there is much wisdom and good for us when Jesus taught us to love our enemies. If we plot to destroy our enemy, we may end up harming ourself. Worse, as in most cases, we can’t do much as the person who did us wrong is much more powerful than us but our hatred and resentment within us just eats us up. By hating our enemy, we ended up killing ourself slowly but surely. We become a worse person. Moody and angry and easily offended when Christ wants us to be joyful, compassionate and loving. So there is a good reason why we should love instead of hate.

Covid has proven that our lives are intertwined as the world is now global. The NATO action against Russia via Ukraine had led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and as the US and the West continue to fuel the war, the consequences are felt across the world including the West themselves with rising inflation and inflated energy costs. The US in waging a proxy war from far away may think it is insulated but globalisation has made that impossible. Harming others has the effect of harming ourself. That is why it is always better to love and care for others as it will be overall better for everyone. A community where everyone is doing well is much better than only some are doing well while others are left behind. God is God, He is the wisest among any of us. So let’s follow His law and His Word. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom indeed!