Jesus said in Matthew 22:39, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And the question is asked, “How can I love my neighbor if I don’t know how to love myself?” but maybe there is a different way to look at it.
As I was reading the book, “Listening to the Language of the Bible” by Lois Tverberg, I learned that “Love your neighbor as yourself” can also be translated, “Love your neighbor who is like yourself”.
That made a lot of sense to me. You see, we are all alike and no one is better than anyone else. We are all made from the same stuff and in need of forgiveness. We are all fallible and make mistakes and we all need help. We need to be understood by other humans, and if we look at our own experiences, we should be able to identify with others and thus be able to listen to, understand, and comfort one another. And maybe that is one way to love your neighbor. And at the same time, your neighbor that you are commanded to love, is commanded to love you also.
We all want to be treated right, and Jesus, in Matthew 7:12 gave us the Golden Rule, “In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you”.
And in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Paul says this: ”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Our trials serve a purpose. That is how we learn to be compassionate with others instead of being unkind and impatient. Even Jesus “learned obedience through the things He suffered”. (Hebrews 5:8) He is our example and He is always with us to help carry the load and give us rest in the struggle.
