Love Thy Neigbor

In Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus says to love thy neighbor as thyself.  But, who are our neighbor?  Are they the ones who live in the houses we can see from our front porch?  Are they the people we call friends, no matter where they may live?  Are they the strangers we see durring our days? 

Luke 10:25-37 answers not only who are our neighbors, but how we are to treat them.
25.  And, behold, a certian lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26.  He said unto him, What is writtin in the law?  how readest thou?
27.  And he answering said, Thous shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.
28.  And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right:  this do, and thous shalt live.
29.  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor?
30-36.  And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way:  and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  And liewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, an dpassed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was:  and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?
37.  And he said, He that showed mercy on him.  Then said Jesus unto him, Gom and do thou likewise.

So, by Jesus' own words, our neighbor is not just the people we know or live by, but anyone who is in need of help, either physical or mental, either of our race, or of another race, it doesn't matter.  We are to treat any and all as our neighbor and we are to love them as ourselves.  How more simple would our life be, would our planet be, if we could love our neighbor as ourselves? 

Amore

With Valentines being just around the corner, it's hard not to get caught up in the whole Amore thing.  It also gets me thinking, what is love?  What does it mean to love someone, weather it be your parents, your family, your neighbors, your spouses, your children...the list goes on and on.  How do we know what love is?

The Webster's Dictionary says that love is:  strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child> (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers.

I tell my husband every day that I love him.  I get butterflies when I know he is on his way home from school.  I still swoon at his kisses and long for his arms to be around me.  I enjoy spending time with him more than anything else and when I am having a bad day, he is who I want to be with me and when I have a good day he is the one I want to share it with.  I feel he's my best friend, one that I can turn to for anything and everything.

But the question is, is this love?  The only way to find out is to study, for the Bible tells us what love is and how to love, not just our spouse, but everyone.  Starting today, I plan on doing a research on how we are to love our neighbor, our family, our spouse and our children and sharing that with you.  I can't promise that I will have something to say daily, for sometimes the research is going to take a day or two to figure out.  My goal in all of this is not just to get the real definition of love, but to be able to love my husband, my children, my family and my neighbors not the best I know how, but the way that God wants me too.