Leviticus 19:17–18: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

January 2nd, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In these verses we have the first occurrence of the so-called golden rule, which Jesus quoted four times in the New Testament (Matthew 19:19, 22:39, Mark 12:31, and Luke 10:27). The concept of loving your neighbor as you love yourself is unique to the Old Testament. It cannot be found in any other ancient writings until after the time Leviticus was written. In fact, this idea goes against the normal practices of the day of all other cultures.

God is dealing with something deeper than actions; He is dealing with what lies beneath actions, the heart. Notice that God’s children are commanded to love, not just in action, but fundamentally, from their hearts. It is required of God’s people that even when love is not yet the desire of the heart, it still must be one’s actions, which eventually the heart will follow.

We must not be comfortable to merely treat others well, while hiding a heart of hatred toward them. God desires to change our hearts so that we do in fact come to a place where we are able to love them unconditionally.

“LORD, we choose to love that difficult neighbor this day, and as we are obedient in showing him kindness, would you please change our hearts to honestly love him.”