One day an expert in Jewish law walks up to Jesus and poses what seemed at the moment an impossible question to answer: Of all the commandments given by God, which is the most important?
Jesus gives the answer that would define our faith as we know it in a masterful way, saying in Matthew 22:37–39 "And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (ESV).
On the idea of loving our neighbours, however, just how much should we love them? Jesus perfectly explains how we're supposed to love God, saying that we love Him with everything we have—heart, soul, mind and strength. But how much should I love my neighbor? If I love others enough to give spare change to a poor man once a year and probably say something nice to my wife when she's mad, does that qualify?
With just two words, Jesus explains to us the magnitude and level that you are to love your neighbour: "as yourself." The question really is not how far should we go for others, but how far we would go for ourselves.
If you stand in a buffet line and people start cutting because they want to feed themselves as soon as possible, then you now have an idea how zealous and eager we should be to love our neighbour. The greatest challenge to obeying God's command to love Him and to love others is the seemingly unconquerable love for the self. It is when we love ourselves more than others that we start missing the mark and disobeying God.
Loving others does not simply mean minding our own business and hoping we don't say anything to hurt anyone. It means going beyond our own means and capacity to love others because, truth be told, that's how far we would go for ourselves, and Jesus made it clear that we are to love others the same way we would love ourselves.
As impossible as that may sound given that we always then start thinking, "But what about my needs?" Jesus gives an answer to that as well in a different setting. He says in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (ESV). We might think that we are finite in our ability to love others, but if we trust in God's grace for provision and for strength to be a blessing to others, He will never leave us dry.
A willing channel of God's blessing and love to others will never himself or herself turn dry because God supplies all the needs of those who walk according to His ways.
