What does it mean to Love your neighbour?
This is what it means to love your neighbour as yourself:
Loving your neighbour means knowing you are loved by God and loving ourselves as well.
To begin to love your neighbour as yourself, you need to know what love is and that you are loved. And not just loved in a general kind of way, but deeply loved and unconditionally loved by God.
To love your neighbour as yourself you need to love yourself.
Learning to love ourselves prepares and helps us to love our neighbour.
Loving your neighbour means acting with compassion and wishing for peace.
A heart that’s moved by compassion cannot sit idly by while someone suffers a need. Loving your neighbour as yourself is being moved to help others and to strive for peace in all you do.
Loving your neighbour means being thankful for what we have.
Loving your neighbour as yourself is to be thankful for what we have. ‘Count your blessings’ is an old saying, but it reminds us to be thankful and not take things for granted.
Loving your neighbour means speaking kindly, showing respect for others.
To love your neighbour as yourself is to use words to build others up. Speaking words of encouragement to someone who’s down or giving someone a compliment and telling someone you appreciate them. Showing respect for ours views and values is a way to show that we love our neighbours.
Loving your neighbour means sharing in their joys and sorrows and having hope for the future.
Celebrating can be difficult for us at times, especially if our neighbour is getting something we have longed for. Loving your neighbour as yourself is showing up and being there with your heart open, allowing them to be what they are and support them. We also hope that our future with be brighter and wish this for others too.
Loving your neighbour means forgiving.
Forgiveness is freely given to us and to love your neighbour as yourself you’ll pass the forgiveness on. We all need forgiveness, so loving your neighbour is to forgive them as you have been.