. Ye shall love him, J. R. Miller, loving your neighbor. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself, Mark 12, 31. What is it to love our neighbor? It is the loving that is hard. We could do almost anything else
short of loving unpleasant neighbors. But love is the word, and no
revised version changes it. No matter how disagreeable, unlovely,
unworthy our neighbors may be, still the commandment persistently
and relentlessly says to us, you shall love him. Our neighbors
are around us all the time, needing our love, indeed, they touch
our lives so continually, that we must guard our every look,
word, and act, lest we hurt some sensitive spirit. Some people
seem to forget that other people have feelings. They are constantly
saying words and doing things which give pain. True love is
thoughtful. We ought to train our hearts
to the most delicate sense of kindness that we may never, even
jokingly, give pain to any other human being. Our neighbors have
hearts. and we owe to every one of them,
the beggar we meet on the street, the degraded wretch we find crawling
in the mire of sin's debasement, the enemy who flings his insults
in our face, to every one we owe the love that is thoughtful,
gentle, and gives no hurt. Our love ought also to be patient. Our neighbor will have his faults,
but we are taught to bear with one another's infirmities. If
we knew the story of men's lives, the hidden burdens they are often
carrying, the unhealed wounds in their heart, we would have
most gentle patience with them. Life is hard for most people,
certainly hard enough without our adding to its burdens, by
our criticisms, our jeering and contempt, and our lack of love.