In Matthew 22:39, Jesus says, “A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself” (NLT). Every day, we ensure our own needs are met. We strive to take care of ourselves because we have a vested interest in our health. We desire to move forward in our goals because we care about our future. We mourn when we go through difficult times and when we fall short of where we know we should be.
Loving your neighbor as yourself means showing this same level of concern and care for everyone. If you meet anyone in life that has a need that you have the power to meet, God calls you to serve them. It doesn’t matter if that need is physical, emotional, spiritual, or whatever: if God has equipped you to help, you’ve got to see it through.
This command to love your neighbor is so important to Jesus that in Matthew 22:39, He calls it “equally important” to the command of loving God. That is because you can’t truly love God and not love others. God is perfect, unconditional love for all. Obeying His will in our lives means being the embodiment of that love to everyone we meet. It means that we must strive for nothing less than everyone in every home loved. Ask God to show you how to do your part in making that happen today.