by Keeshler Pittman

Created on: August 22, 2009   Last Updated: September 01, 2009

Love your neighbor as yourself is the golden rule. It means to treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated. It means do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Therefore, if you desire for people to respect you, you have to respect them. If you desire for people to love you, love them. Most importantly, it means love them as much as you love yourself.

The problem in our current society is that many people want to get out of relationships more than they put in. Basically, they want to use people. They want people to do more for them than they are willing to do in return. People need to be mindful. We are to love our neighbor equally. We cannot love our neighbor more than we love ourselves. Meaning, we cannot allow people to drain us. We cannot give more than what is reasonable. Many people are taken advantage of because they are kind. Kindness is not weakness. We will often encounter people who will try to use or manipulate us. There are people who will use a well until there is no more water. We must be aware of a person who is constantly in need.

There are many ways we can love our neighbor. We can volunteer to support a cause. We can visit an elderly widow. We can give financially to missions groups. We can givefinancially to that person on the street who we may never see again. We can do a variety of things. We must be mindful to not over extend ourselves. If everyone in this country would do a little, it would change many things. President Obama cannot change this country alone. We all have to be active in the process of change.

If you are blessed beyond measure, you must remember your neighbor is not only the people in the mansion next door. Your neighbor is also the homeless man 25 miles away. He may be capable of working, but has no money to get clean clothes for an interview. He may be the victim of a foreclosure. Whatever the case, he is your neighbor. Your neighbor is the child in foster care who is only praying for a new toy. Your neighbor is the person in a third world country with no sanitary water source. Your neighbor is the victim of domestic violence. Always keep in mind, the roles could be reversed.

People must learn to love genuinely. Not for selfish reasons. We tend to only love those who have something to offer us. That is not rewarding. True love is loving someone who may never be capable of giving us anything in return. We must learn to show love equally to each individual. Our neighbor is any individual we meet during our brief visit here on Earth.

Learn more about this author, Keeshler Pittman.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.