#Love thy neighbor bible verse how to#

Leviticus 19:18 suggests that the latter should be as important to us as the former. We love others when we choose work that provides needed goods and services, opportunities for marginalized people, protection for God’s creation, justice and democracy, truth, peace, and beauty. We love ourselves when we make work choices that bring us high pay, prestige, security, comfort, and easy work.

But that does not mean that every job or work opportunity is of equal service to others. Thinking more broadly, if we have a wide range of choices in our work, how much of a role does serving others make in our job decisions, compared to making the most for ourselves? Almost every kind of work can serve others and please God. Nearly all of us have moments when we can shirk our duties yet still get paid. The politically connected or corrupt may be able to wring large rewards for themselves in the form of contracts, subsidies, bonuses, and make-work jobs, while providing little of value for others. But what if we find ourselves in a situation where we can skew the benefits in favor of ourselves? Some people may have enough power to command salaries and bonuses in excess of the value they truly provide. In most jobs, we would not stay employed for long if we didn't provide a value to others at least equal to what we draw in pay. A hotel housekeeper receives wages while providing guests with a clean and healthy room.

A teacher receives a salary that pays the bills, and at the same time imbues students with knowledge and skills that will be equally valuable to them. Providentially, it is possible to love ourselves and our neighbors through the same work, at least to the degree that our work provides something of value to customers, citizens, students, family members, and other consumers. CEO Ron Johnson Founds Company on the Reciprocal Strategy of Love Your Neighbor as Yourself If we had to work twice as long to accomplish it-say one shift a day for ourselves and another shift for our neighbor-it would be nearly impossible. This is a very high call-to work as much to serve others as to meet our own needs. 3:10), yet the “as yourself” aspect of Leviticus 19:18 suggests that we should be equally motivated to serve others through our work. Scripture commends this motivation (2 Thess. We know that if we don’t work, we won’t eat. The crux of the command lies in the words “as yourself.” At least to some degree, most of us work to provide for ourselves. There is a strong element of self-interest in working. Working For Others as Much as For Ourselves In quoting Leviticus 19:18, the Apostle Paul wrote that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. This imperative is so sweeping that both Jesus and the rabbis regarded it as one of the two “great” commandments, the other being “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one” ( Mark 12:29-31 cf. Deut.

The most famous verse in Leviticus may be the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev.

#Love thy neighbor bible verse how to#

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