Loving Neighbor as Self

A well-known principle of Bible study is that repetition is among the best forms of emphasis. If God states something once, it is important, and if twice, ...

The problem with the Pharisees is that they never grasped the simplicity of the law, much less the spirit of it, but dissected it to be thought righteous.

The outgoing concern toward other beings begins with God the Father to Christ to us. How much we love our brethren may be a good gauge of how much we love God.

He who loves God must love his brother, including every fellow human being. Our closeness with God transcends the other human relationships.

We are obligated to show compassion and mercy to all, refraining from gossip, exercising righteous judgment, forgiving others and applying the Golden Rule.

We learn to love God by first loving our parents. Our first lessons in loving our neighbors happen within what should be the friendly confines of the family.

Love is not a feeling, but an action—defined as keeping God's commandments, the only means by which we can possibly know Him, leading to eternal life.

David took all the persecutions from King Saul, and then later showed his mercy to Saul's extended family, he demonstrated the true essence of godly love.

Clyde Finklea, focusing on the concept of living a life that pleases God, as was exemplified by Enoch in Genesis 5:21, identifies seven qualities that enable us to live a life that pleases God. These seven qualities include 1.) faith and belief, 2.) righte. . .

Love is the first of the fruit of the Spirit, the one trait of God that exemplifies His character. Here is how the Bible defines what love is and what love does.

Having learned in Part One about biblical compassion, we can see no better example of it than the sacrifice our Savior made for us. ...

Fellowship with God is the only antidote to overwhelming feelings of despair, doubt, and self-condemnation.

Richard Ritenbaugh observes that God directs His laws at individuals rather than groups. Character change is an individual matter rather than a communal matter. The group will not change until each is converted individually. Likewise, we cannot expect to h. . .

Increasing knowledge without the capacity to process it leads to insanity. To combat information overload, we must get back to the basics of Christianity.

Most people understand the basic point of this well-known parable. The whole story describes working compassion as contrasted to selfishness. It also clarifies just who is our neighbor.

Converted members of God's church have a blessing that absolutely no one else in the world has: Christians have a true understanding of living as God Himself lives. ...

Using an analogy of a Tlingit Indian ritual of leaving a young man on a remote island with only a bow and arrows until he learns to become a man, John Reid suggests that God requires a similar thing for us. We have to learn the survival skill of loving one. . .

David Maas, resuming the series "Our Part in the Sanctification Process," focuses on the need to cultivate mature self-love. Using a pair of metaphors (a set of six dams on a water causeway and six interconnected transformers on a gigantic power . . .

Micah provides a formula for being a Christian: 1.) Doing justly, 2.) Exercising mercy and 3.) Walking humbly. These demand total commitment, not a pretense.

Martin Collins, citing Ephesians 4:29-32, warns against corrupt, bitter, and wrathful communication, a practice which may grieve or attenuate God's Spirit. We have the tendency to nurse or harbor grievances and bitterness, souring our outlook on everything. . .

The Pharisees were in the office or seat of Moses. Jesus taught His followers to follow their words (pertaining to the Law of God), but not their personal examples.

Our intimate fellowship should not be with the world, but be concentrated upon God and those who have made the Covenant, loving them as we would ourselves.

Because kindness is love in action, we must galvanize our thoughts into concrete behaviors, including offering encouraging words and performing uplifting deeds.

Christianity has both an inward aspect (building godly character or becoming sanctified) and an outward aspect (doing practical good works).

John Ritenbaugh stresses that God esteems certain spiritual qualities above other spiritual qualities. To elevate a minor regulation above a major regulation is to spiritually lose ones sense of proportion. The attribute of love (I Corinthians 13:13) super. . .

[Editors Note: Audio quality improves at the 4 minute mark.]

John Ritenbaugh reiterates that the humble, serving, or footwashing attitude exemplified by Jesus in John 13 provides a clear insight into the mind of God. Jesus humbled Himself, pouring out His divinity to serve mankind, providing an example for us to als. . .

Kim Myers suggests that the government assumes an unseemly role as being entitled to do whatever it wants, dominating over the lives of its constituents, instead of functioning as a servant. Having in the last several decades ignored the Constitution, and . . .

Focusing upon the rising tide of societal incivility, Richard Ritenbaugh warns that discourtesy and ugly in-your-face attitudes (fruits of the flesh) have also manifested themselves in the greater church of God. These disgusting works of the flesh (Galatia. . .

John Ritenbaugh, using the term "malignant narcissism" (from M. Scott Peck's book "People Of The Lie") to describe the blind Laodicean pride which denies our inherent sinfulness and imperfection by means of clever self-decptive quibblin. . .