Love Your Neighbour

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour."   [Matthew 5:43]

“Love your neighbour.” Perhaps he rolls in riches, and you are poor, and living in your little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion; you see him in his estates every day , his fine linen, and his sumptuous banquets; God has given him these gifts, but do not covet his wealth, and think no hard thoughts concerning him. Be content with your own lot, if you can not better it, but do not look upon your neighbour, and wish that he were as yourself. Love him, and then you will not envy him. Perhaps, on the other hand, you are rich, and near your reside the poor. Do not scorn to call them neighbour. Own that you are bound to love them. The world calls them your inferiors. In what are they inferior? They are far more your equals than your inferiors, for “God hath made of one blood all people that dwell upon the face of the earth [Act.17:26].” It is your coat which is better than theirs, but you are by no means better than they. They are men, and what are you more than that? Take heed that you love your neighbour even though he be in rags, or sunken in the depths of poverty.  But, perhaps, you say, “I cannot love my neighbours, because for all I do they return ingratitude and contempt.” So much the more room for the heroism of love. Would you be a feather-bed warrior, instead of bearing the rough fight of love? He who dares the most, shall win the most; and if rough be your path of love, tread it boldly, still loving your neighbours through thick and thin. Heap coals of fire on their heads [Pro.25:22], and if they be hard to please, seek not to please them, but to please your Master; and remember if they spurn your love, your Master has not spurned it, and your deed is as acceptable to him as if it had been acceptable to them. Love your neighbour, for in so doing you are following the footsteps of Christ. Hallelujah, God bless