March 12, Morning
C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour." — Matthew 5:43 · KJV
"Love thy neighbour." Perhaps he rolls in riches while you are poor, living in your little cottage side by side with his lordly mansion; you see every day his estates, his fine linen, his sumptuous banquets. God has given him these gifts; do not covet his wealth, and think no hard thoughts about him. Be content with your own lot, if you cannot better it, and do not look on your neighbor and wish that he were like you. Love him, and then you will not envy him. Perhaps, on the other hand, you are rich, and the poor live near you. Do not scorn to call them neighbor; own that you are bound to love them. The world calls them your inferiors. In what are they inferior? They are far more your equals than your inferiors, for "God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." Your coat is better than theirs, but you are by no means better than they. They are men — and what are you more than that? Take heed that you love your neighbor even though he be in rags, or sunk in the depths of poverty. But perhaps you say, "I cannot love my neighbors, because for all I do they return ingratitude and contempt." So much the more room for the heroism of love. Would you be a feather-bed warrior, instead of bearing the rough fight of love? He who dares the most shall win the most; and if your path of love is rough, tread it boldly, still loving your neighbors through thick and thin. Heap coals of fire on their heads, and if they are hard to please, seek not to please them but to please your Master; and remember, if they spurn your love, your Master has not spurned it, and your deed is as acceptable to Him as if it had been acceptable to them. Love your neighbor, for in so doing you are following the footsteps of Christ.