Love can be defined in many ways depending on your area of focus. You might think of love for your career, love for food, love for money, love for people, etc. In this article, the area of focus is love for people. The love between human beings can also be categorized into romantic love and or general love. Regardless, my interest is in the love between human beings and sharing insights on how loving others makes an essential ingredient of life.

What is Love?

Love is a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection for one person to another. It can be a ‘parent – child’ relationship, neighbor-to-neighbor relationship, friend-to-friend relationship, and or a romantic relationship. No matter the relationship that prompted the love action, it is an undeniable truth that each human being needed to love and to be loved. Basically, love is an essential ingredient in our day-to-day lives.

Love as a Commandment from God

The first and greatest commandment from God is about love for God and our neighbors. Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Mathew 22:37; Mark 12:30).’ The second one is also about love but love to your neighbor which says “Love your neighbor as yourself (Mathew 22:39; Mark 12:31). Thus, in Biblical perspective, living love life is not an option but a must-do activity.

Why should we love one another?

Despite the Godly need for love to God and to our neighbors, the following five (5) items provide justification that loving one another is life agenda.

1. Love promotes peace and unity

With love in action, the world becomes a better place to live. No one will like to hurt another one. This item becomes more meaningful if tied with the second part of the love commandment from God that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Out of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses, Commandments No. 4 through 10 are about the Do’s and Don’ts for our family members and neighbors. Let us go through one after the other to see the relationship between love and life and how love can promote peace and unity.

Commandment No. 4

Commandment No. 4 says “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you”. If you love your parents you will understand their role in your life and you will honor them naturally.

Commandment No. 5

Commandment No. 5 says “Though shall not kill”. In most cases, killing is a product of anger but where there is love anger does not stay. This means that killing does not have space where there is love.

Commandment No. 6

Commandment No. 6 says “Though shall not commit adultery”. But, what does adultery mean? Adultery means doing a voluntary sexual activity (such as sexual intercourse) between a married man and someone other than his wife or between a married woman and someone other than her husband. When a husband commits Adultery hurts the wife and vice versa. Adultery is a product of a lack of love between married couples. Where there is true love, the couples will fight against temptation and will live peaceful life always.

Commandment No. 7

Command, No. 7 says “Though shall not steal“. Stealing means unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one’s neighbor and wronging him in any way with respect to his goods. It also means that we should not willfully impede our brother’s success, restrain his progress, restrict his development, or take advantage of his circumstances in any way which are contrary to love.

Commandment No. 8

Commandment No. 8 says “Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor“. One bears false witness against the neighbor by speaking falsely in any matter, lying, equivocating, and any way devising and designing to deceive our neighbor. One can also speak unjustly against the neighbor, to the prejudice of his reputation; and (which involves the guilty of both). Love forbids all those actions.

Commandment No. 9

Commandment No. 9 says “thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s wife”. To covet another person’s wife or husband means entertaining impure thoughts about the woman or man married to someone else. Whether you act on such thoughts but simply consider them for your personal pleasure, is a violation as it will open up the doors for actual doing which will later sweep away the peace and unity that was in place.

Commandment No. 10

Commandment no. 10 says “thou shall not covet your neighbor’s goods”. Coveting neighbors’ goods means the desire to the point of seeking to take something that belongs to another individual. Coveting leads to committing which is against love.

Where there is love, there is no room for neither coveting nor committing anything against one another. This means when people love each other there will be peace and unity in families and in societies at large hence, no crimes and misbehavior as people live in peace as one.

2. Love improves your psychological well-being

. The feeling of being loved can make someone feel safe and indestructible. Being lonely or isolated can affect someone’s emotions and mental and physical health. On the other hand, having close friends and family members love improves one’s emotions and mental health. Psychologists define love as a chemical reaction in human beings’ brains that stimulates and secrete pleasure hormones called dopamine, which makes someone feel happy, calm, and peaceful all the time.

3. Love is the source of strength.

Love has the power to make you feel strong and undefeated all the time as it increases one’s confidence and workability. Feeling loved means feeling needed and valued. Where there is love one can do great things. This reminds me of an athlete who was about to drop down the competition as was very tired but when he heard the voice of his fiancee telling him to go on, he gathered more energy and finished the race with a victory. Thus, Love is also a motivating tool.

4. Love is a character reform agency

People say your actions reflect your character and what is inside you. When a kid with a bad character is surrounded by loving people automatically he changes for good. Take a minute and consider the so-called street children. Most of these children are a product of a lack of love in families and in communities. Those who decided to establish homes for the homeless can bear great witness to the fact that when you love one another you become a character reform agent. People will look at you and your actions and many will wish to imitate your lifestyle.

5. Love builds a strong family and strong community

Love is a rock that can build a strong foundation that can resist high-sized turbulence. Families built with love are strong since they are built on a hard rock that can not be shaken. The spillovers of a loving family are not limited to the own family but go across the community around them. A loving family takes responsibility for its actions even when they wrong others.

The words of God in Mathew 7:24-27 Jesus talks about the wise and foolish builders. He said “…..everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Thus, loving one another is a Commandment from God and can build strong families and communities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, loving one another is critically important for the overall health and well-being of our society. It strengthens our relationships, helps us to grow, and allows us to develop a sense of belonging and purpose in the world. It reduces stress, enhances our health, and gives us the opportunity to share our experiences and perspectives with others. Ultimately, it is a fundamental building block of our humanity, and it is essential for us to continue to foster a culture of compassion, understanding, and care.

By Deodatus R Mgembe.