In my view, the love of God and the love of neighbor are inseparable aspects and are joined together to form the greatest commandment. It is impossible to love God effectively if one does not love their neighbors. Similarly, one cannot claim to love their neighbor effectively if they do not love God. According to Kreeft (1988), Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor just as he did. Jesus displayed the love of a neighbor in several instances in the Bible, such as feeding the 5000 men. He was also compassionate and willing to address people’s problems and meet their needs (Virtual Clout, 2020, 1:01). This means that we are supposed to display the love of God to other people by caring and being committed to the welfare of others (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2017b, 0:36). Therefore, since God is love, we must show his love by loving our neighbors.
The love of God guides us on how we are supposed to love our neighbors. It is challenging to love other people, especially when they are hurting us or doing ungodly things. As a result, we usually find ourselves loving those who love us and hating those who do evil to us. However, the love of God informs that love should be unconditional, which means that it should not be tied to what another person is doing. This type of love is known as agape and is characterized by sacrifice, courage, and strength (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2017a, 0:39). Furthermore, God’s love shows us that he loved us by sending his only son for us to have eternal life. God did this even when we were deeply lost in sin. As a result, the love of God gives us the formula of loving our neighbors.
References
Kreeft, P. (1988). Fundamentals of the faith: essays in Christian apologetics. Ignatius Press.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2016a). CST 101: Option for the poor and vulnerable [Video]. Web.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2017b). CST 101: Solidarity [Video]. Web.
Virtual Clout (2020). The 2020 New York life super bowl commercial that proves all you need is love [Video]. Web.