There is a general lack of a proper interpretation of the statute: Love your neighbour as you love yourself, as there is a prevailing absence on the emphasis of the love of oneself, as a precondition of the love for others. It should be a prerequisite that you should first be in love with yourself before extending that same kind of love to others. How can you love others when you don’t love God’s own creation; i.e yourself?
We read and are told from the scriptures that God created everyone of us in His own image. Right? In that spiritual sense, God loved Himself so much that he decided to create a specimen of Himself through the “copycat” creation of human beings. In essence, he wanted us to be a mirror for his love for Himself. He would then equally love us as much as He loved Himself, as we represent the creation of his own image.
In God’s example, we should follow that sequence of love. First love who you were created to be, whether black, white, coloured, rich or poor. What you are or what you have worked hard to be, is what God meant you to be. Love who you are. Be content with who you are, regardless of your status or colour. Each one of us is a representation of the Lord our God; who from the beginning loved Himself. That is the first qualification for the extension of our love to others. There is tragedy in the neglect of nurturing the love for ourselves, as individual beings. Disliking oneself is ungodly.
There is also an implied sentiment among the Christian circles that the law to love one another is a product of Jesus Christ’s initiation. His pronouncements on the love for one another where meant to be in tandem with what His Father, the Lord our God, had already prescribed and taught humanity. It was the Father who initiated the love for one another. At Mt. Sinai (Leviticus 19:18), He instructed us, “You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord”. The ‘I am the Lord’ is His signature, as the originator of the teachings of the love for others and yourself’.
As we are all children of one God, our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ emphasized that as children of one family, there should not be hatred among us, in the same spirit that the Father taught us that we should not bear any grudges or vengeance against each other. As an expansion of the Father’s teachings, Christ also preached (Matthew 5:44-48) “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love these who love you, what rewards have you? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others. Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. Please note that Jesus Christ constantly uses the title ‘Father’ to refer to the Lord our God, to emphasize the oneness of all His human creations on this planet; we are one family.
Back to Mt. Sinai, in Leviticus 19:34, God proceeded to remind the children of Israel; “The strangers who ‘stay with you for some time’ shall be to you as a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself: for you were also strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God”. Likewise Jesus Christ also taught on the essence of love and forgiveness (Matthew 5:23-26), “So, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come back and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison, truly I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny”.
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Both the Father and the Son are emphatic on the need for a peaceful co-existence between siblings, relatives, countrymen and people across all nations. However prior to that, each of us has to be at peace with oneself. You can’t love others spiritually when you are not in love with yourself. We all encounter some bad situations of various kinds but it’s all meant to either mature us as a taste of fate, or as a test of faith. Nobody is spared of the ups and downs of life. Jesus Christ was tormented left, right and centre, yet he remained resolute in endurance.
Even, the Father has moments of tribulations in the face of our sins. He has to make tough decisions which are sometimes too much to bear. He has to ponder on whether to punish or to forgive, and think of the consequences of His decisions. Remember that at one time he punished humanity by sending floods to extinguish mankind from the planet Earth, yet He later regretted his actions (Genesis 8:21). Whatever we are, each of us was made in God’s image. If you love yourself then you are in love with God.
In conclusion, Jesus Christ spoke (John 15:9-14). “As the Father has loved me (and us), so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandment (and the Father’s), you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, That you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you”. Amen.
- Prosper Tingini is the Scribe of the Children of God Missionary Assembly — God’s messengers. Contact details: 0771 260 195. Email address: ptingini@gmail.com