Loving Our Neighbors Instead of Ourselves, Part 1 (TMF:2243)

Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Peace to Live By: Loving Our Neighbors Instead of Ourselves, Part 1 (TMF:2243) - Daniel Litton
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        Awhile back, I had a friend of whom I noticed it seemed like she spent most of her timing helping others. “What’s wrong with that? Aren’t we supposed to love others?” Certainly, we want to be of some service to others in our lives because service makes us happy and always comes back to us. We really aren’t fulfilled in life if we don’t serve in some way. But, my friend was doing it too much, at least that’s what I felt, and I told her that one day via text message. I told her I felt she was spending too much time helping others and not taking care of herself. I said to her, “Jesus said, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, not instead of ourselves.” In my opinion, this is one of the core things that helps us in our lives when we come to understand it. If you go to certain churches around the city, you will leave that church feeling like the whole point of life is to love your neighbor instead of yourself. In fact, it would seem in some places that if you’re not doing that, you're not making God happy. The reality is, though, that Jesus told us to love our neighbors ‘as’ ourselves. That is quite different than ‘instead’ of ourselves.'