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Do This and You Will Live

Who is my neighbor? 

Mastering our emotions, thoughts, and actions. 

The flow of love. 

 

In Luke chapter 10, Jesus is in a conversation with an expert in the law about eternal life. The expert quotes the Hebrew scripture that we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus tells him this is correct and says, “Do this and you will live.” 

The exchange that follows is interesting. The man then asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus answers with the story of the Good Samaritan. I heard another story of Fred Rogers who was talking about loving our neighbors. He said our neighbor is the one person we happen to be with at any given moment. We don’t need to look for our neighbor or choose who is and who isn’t our neighbor. Everyone is our neighbor, and the most important neighbor is always the one we are with.  

In his book, Discipline is Destiny, Ryan Holiday writes, “To master anything, we must first master ourselves: our emotions, thoughts, and actions. This ancient virtue of self-control is more essential than ever.” Note: mastery is not about perfection. It’s more about confidence and competence. This line by Holiday reminds me that I have a choice. I can choose to discipline myself or allow myself to be tossed about by my emotions, scattered in my thoughts, and thoughtless in my actions and reactions to life and the world around me. If I am undisciplined, how can I think and act clearly? How can I respond to my neighbor in presence and love? 

Spiritual teacher Eknath Easwaran wrote, “To love without self-centered expectations is the secret to freedom in personal relationships.” Love is not love if it is self-centered, but it flows: back and forth, from God to us, to our neighbors, to us, and back to God. Do this and you will live. Anyone we are with is deserving of our love. And we are better equipped to recognize and respond to our neighbors when we master our emotions, thoughts, and actions. This allows that flow of love to flow through our lives.  

Today, may I live free of self-centered expectations. May I be disciplined. And may I be an instrument of love, joy, and peace.



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