Love

“This is obvious; for the distinction of friend or enemy is a distinction in the object of love, but the object of love to your neighbor is always without distinction. Your neighbor is the absolutely unrecognizable distinction between one person and another; it is eternal equality before God – enemies, too, have this equality (100).”

“To love one’s neighbor, therefore, means essentially to will to exist equally for every human being without exception (100).”

Who is my neighbor? That seems like a good question. Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves(This is found in Leviticus as well). The golden rule plus the admonition to love is quite a profound idea. Extend love to your neighbor. I know of people who often complain about their neighbors. They are too loud, there are too many people there, they are reducing my house’s retail value. Any reason that we give about why we dislike our neighbors seems only to be the extension of what cannot be called and is not love. Love is demanding. Love is not flippant and love certainly is not cheap. Love will cost you your independence. Love will cost you your desires. Love will force you to care about other people more than yourself. Love is the transforming power of the gospel. Love is absolutely essential for those who follow the gospel.
Soren Kierkegaard will also tell us that the only action that is noticeably defined as love is love. That is a paradox, but insightful and true.

“True love is only recognizable by love (100).”

So I can I be a person filled with hate and rage and malice and bitterness towards people? Maybe, after all, love is complex. But if these feelings of rage and hate and malice and bitterness lack the grounding foundation of love what in the world does it matter to anyone. To love is the only practical part of Christianity.
Who is my neighbor? Everyone. All peoples, anyone who is alive. My neighbor is black, white, brown. My neighbor is short, tall, fat, skinny. My neighbor speaks Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, English, French, German, Swahili, Lingala, Kikongo, Kiluba… My neighbor is the world and my neighbor is clamoring for my love.
So I will love those who do not love me in return. I will love my enemy, because my enemy is my neighbor. I will love the my neighbor’s when they fight, and I will give myself to solve their conflicts. I will care about my neighbor’s life more than my own. I will be a person who loves. Love is the element of existence that transcends reality. When we love we are no longer fitting within the paradigms of this world. We no longer act as we should, we act better, smartter and in line with God’s kingdom.

If you follow Christ and you do not love are you really following him?