James was always mocking the bible and Christians in general. Several people, who were Christians, tried to tell him about the end-time rapture when Jesus would come in the air to take His bride away. James thought the whole notion was folly and a fantasy generated from the bible and in the mind of these fanatical Jesus followers. They warned him the time was upon us and to accept Jesus as His Savior before it was too late. James would have none of it. Then one morning he woke up to the biggest shock of his life.
James was so blind and his heart so covered in darkness to obvious truth that the Christians just stop talking to him and never brought the subject up to him again. Sometime later James ran into to Josh again this time Josh said nothing about the bible or the rapture or anything along those lines. �Josh aren�t you going to hammer me with your religious garbage like you usually do?� �James I am done talking to you about Christianity and the events leading to the second coming of Jesus. All you have to do is read the newspaper or watch the news and you will see that the time for his coming is ripe; and read the criterion Jesus told his disciples would be manifesting on the earth right before he is supposed to meet His church in the air. In fact, every Christian James ran into did not talk to him about the bible anymore. Great he thought finally I can have peace from these Christians.
The next morning the skies were dark with ominous, low hanging dense black clouds. Oh well looks like another rain storm is coming in. Little did James know a storm was coming upon the earth far beyond any he could imagine or would there be anything like it to ever occur on the earth again. Eagerly he scampered into the kitchen expecting both his parents and his two sisters to be sitting at the table eating their usual Saturday morning ham and eggs breakfast. This time with his family was the highlight of his week. To his surprise they were nowhere to be found nor were there any ham and eggs on the table. The chairs around the table had not even been moved from the night before, �MOM, DAD, CHRISTY,ALICE anybody here? He combed every inch of the house looking for them; the house was eerily empty like no one had lived in it for years. James was a very logical thinker so he tried to figure out what happened to them. He thought of every possible scenario he could but none of them made any sense. He scratched his bushy, fiery, red hair then decided it was time to get dressed and get to the bottom of their unsuspected disappearance. He lopped some icy cold water on his round freckled face. He shot outdoors and to his dismay his neighborhood was silent.
How Can We Love our Neighbor as Our Self, as Jesus Commanded?
Loving other people as oneself is a difficult goal. But Jesus clearly made it fundamental to Christian living. On one occasion, an expert in the Jewish law challenged Jesus with the question, �What must I do to inherit eternal life?� Jesus answered, � �You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,� and �your neighbor as yourself� � (Luke 10:27 NKJV).
Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you (NKJV).
This passage contains two principles. One principle is that our expectations of our neighbors are directly related to the expectations that will be placed on us. As Jesus said, �With the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.� The expectations we have of others will be required by them (and God) of us. But even subjectively, we already love�or hate�our neighbors as ourselves. We subconsciously project our own attitudes and values upon other people, expecting them to perceive us as we perceive them. If we are impatient and judgmental towards others, we assume others will be impatient and judgmental towards us. If we are compassionate and patient towards others, we won�t have to deal with the pressures that come from assuming that others view us with hostility and impatience. Love or hatred directed outwards is always matched by love or hatred directed inwards.
The second principle is that love for one�s neighbor should never be confused with indulgence. A father who gives his children anything they want spoils them. If we love our neighbor as our self, we must be as careful in setting standards and goals for him as we do for ourselves. If God were a genie in a lamp who gave us anything we wanted, would we ever be satisfied? Of course not! Love for our neighbor involves the same principle. While love always seeks to promote the other person�s well-being, at times it is manifested in acts of charity and at other times in firm confrontation.
Our neighbor is just like us. At times he needs mercy, at times he needs correction, but he always needs our love.