“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” — Christ Jesus (Matthew 22 : 39)
This second commandment which Christ Jesus gave us took on new meaning to me recently. For a long time I felt I was to try to love others as Jesus would have, or in a similar manner to those especially loving people I know, but then I really heard those last two words — “as thyself.”
One of the “works of the flesh” listed in Galatians 5 : 19-21 is “emulations” and it becomes clear that God did not make us unique individuals only to be tasked with pretending to be someone or something else, even if that someone is Christ Jesus. To avoid bearing “false witness against thy neighbour” (Exodus 20:16) we have to start by not lying about ourselves. If we are not allowing the teachings of the Christ to heal us of that feeling we must mask our true selves for fear of worldly rejection, then we need to really hear Jesus' saying to us, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6 : 24) Let us free ourselves of these social and familial constructs, so we can live and love our fellow beings as ourselves.
Then we can start to understand that when we need Truth, Love, and good, we go to God, who is the source of all of these; and in like manner, when God needs the truth spoken, and love expressed, and good given in our lives, He works through us. Through you! Therefore, there is a legitimate need for us to love others as ourselves. If God wanted someone else to reflect His love in this moment, He would have sent them. If our individual brand of love was not useful, He would not have made us this way. So let your God-given, genuine individuality confidently and authentically express Love — without needless self-condemnation — and whomever is around will feel God's love coming through you with such a genuineness that they cannot help but be blessed by it!