LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF EP 3
TOPIC: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF; FAMILY AND COMMUNITY.
Love your neighbour, as yourself is one of God’s most sacred commandments. Jesus Christ emphasises the importance of love, empathy, and compassion in his teachings. God has commanded us as Christians to love with all our heart, soul, and mind. The neighbour in this context refers to our community and anyone in our surroundings. When focusing on family, this idea emphasizes cultivating a nurturing and supportive environment within the family unit.
Strong family ties act as the spark to spread kindness and generosity outside the home, generating a positive flow of relationships across our community.
FAMILY LOVE IS THE FOUNDATION
Love within the family helps you form secure attachments outside and inside your family. Love helps to build self-confidence to explore your surroundings and beyond. Being compassionate towards our family is the first step towards loving our neighbours.
Can we love others outside our family without loving our own family? you can’t, that be contradictory to the word of God? Yes, it would.
Being kind toward our immediate family gives them the means to love those outside of our family, which is something we should all strive to do as Christians.
TEACHING VALUES AT HOME
Proverbs 22:6 (KJV) “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This Bible text emphasises the need to instil the right values in our children so that they will be good ambassadors of faith in society.
This text does not apply just to children. It applies to everyone close to us, especially our immediate family, whom we have a chance to influence. The values we learn while living with family have an impact on our contribution to society.
Values like contentment, honesty, love, and fairness help to foster a very positive atmosphere around us and our contributions to society.
PRACTICAL ACTS OF LOVE
To show love to our neighbours we need to be practical and intentional. Being respectful and considerate of acquaintances and strangers is a way of showing practical love. Build relationships in the community by participating in simple communal activities. Do not distance yourself from your community; be an open book. Offer any assistance you can.
POWER OF A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY
Families can benefit from a wide circle of friends, and individuals can find a sense of connection and companionship. As humans, you will never know what situation you might find yourself in. In many situations, family members rely on their neighbours for support. Celebrating each other’s diversity and cultural background, learning from each other, and co-existing to form a community full of love.
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES TOGETHER
To Love your neighbour as yourself can sometimes be a difficult task. Some factors in society hinder good community relations. Factors like differences in beliefs, communication barriers, a lack of community engagement, economic hardships, and social media are obstacles to building a harmonious community.
Fostering open dialogue to understand each other’s perspectives and finding common ground and shared values helps overcome some of these obstacles. Also respecting each other’s privacy and establishing clear boundaries through communication.
Encourage collaboration across different ages. Every age group in the community is important, and segregating one age group will create a non-unified community.
In conclusion, loving your neighbour as yourself starts with the type of care we show to our own immediate family. Being loved within our family gives us a deep sense of self-worth. It helps foster a sense of community resilience through collective problem-solving.
As Christians, we should endeavour to follow God’s number one commandment. Love your family unconditionally, and love your neighbour as if they were your family.
CLICK LINK FOR PREVIOUS LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF-Ep 2
Content Credit / Ajibola Emmanuel Adebayo
Picture Credit / https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/love-your-neighbor-as-yourself-bible-meaning-of-mark-12-31.html
