Loving Others Rightly 

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”  — Luke 10:25-26

In the familiar story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-35, a lawyer asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. This question prompted Jesus to direct him back to Moses’s Law: “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” This moment reveals that love for others cannot be separated from love for God. Our capacity to love people rightly flows out of a heart that is first devoted to God. When He is at the center of our lives, He defines what love is and shapes our motives. Without this solid foundation, our love for others becomes self-serving, inconsistent, and/or conditional. 

As the conversation with the lawyer continued, Jesus illustrated how easily we limit who we believe deserves our love through the Parable of the Good Samaritan. True love for God expands our vision, calling us to reflect His mercy even toward those we might naturally overlook or avoid. We must learn to see other people through God’s eyes and to love them properly. This is not a mere sentimental love. Rather, it is active and costly, shaped by God’s character instead of our preferences. As we grow, we are increasingly freed from selfishness and granted the ability by the Spirit to love others with compassion and humility. Consider one way to show hospitality today. 

Prayer: Loving Father, I confess that I think I can love You and others in the perfect way You require, but I can’t. I am flawed, and my love for You and others is flawed. Help me to learn to trust Christ more fully and to love You and others as You have loved me. 

Reflection Questions: 

1. How does your love for God currently shape the way you treat and think about others? 
2. Are there people in your life whom you struggle to love, and how might God be calling you to respond differently? If so, how might you show them Christlike love this week? 

Weekly Memory Verse: Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. — Deuteronomy 6:4-5