The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:31, ESV

Most of us have known this commandment from the earliest of ages, yet we often treat it as if it were optional. Just look at television for a minute or two and we can see it. Our politicians rarely run "for" anything. They seem to always be talking about how bad the other guy is. Our news programs are no better. In a 30 minute segment we are likely to see 25 of those minutes spent on what someone is doing that should be loathed and despised, rather than what someone is doing well. Our most popular movies are no longer love stories, but typically are filled with violence and revenge. They could rightfully be called "hate stories".

I realize that we cannot bury our heads in the sand as to the evil that is going on, and I am the first to say that those who are harming the innocent should not go unpunished. But you have to admit that we have gone too far in some things. In fact, when we consider how divided society is we will have to admit that we have gone too far in most things. It's almost as if we have changed the command to "hate your enemy with all your might", and we seem determined to live up to the modified command, while ignoring the true commandment.

We may be quick to point out that the commandment does not say love your enemy, but we would be missing the other commandments if we did that. This is how Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount:

You have heard it was said, "you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy". But I say to you, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you."

Matthew 5:43-44, ESV

Why do we ignore this command? Perhaps it's because it doesn't win elections. Maybe it's because it doesn't attract viewers on the news or get people to pay to go to the movies. But it does work in real life! When we are genuinely concerned about people we will look to their best interests, even though we cannot agree with their actions. We can still prosecute criminals and vote for the righteous cause, but we must cease our destructive patterns of hatred towards those with whom we disagree. I know that sin must be stopped, but our method of hating one another doesn't achieve that goal.

What would it be like if we truly were concerned about the souls of those who opposed us? Some will say that we would enable their evil behavior by doing so, but nothing could be farther from the truth. We can still hold people accountable for the wrong that they have committed, but we can also obey God and pray for them to repent. By acting as if the commandments are only applicable when they are convenient to do so, we then become part of the problem and just as subject to the Judgment ourselves. For the same One who said, "thou shalt not kill" also had His Son say, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you". 

It's when we begin to obey all of the commandments that we start to make a difference in this world. I have done things that were worthy of someone hating me and so have you. How much easier has our repentance been when those we have wronged have repaid that sin with good instead of evil? I'm not suggesting by all of this that we simply allow the unrighteous to "get away" with their crimes, but I am suggesting that we still have a solemn duty to love them and pray for them. Who knows, by doing so we might be saving two souls: Theirs when they repent, and ours when we don't need to.

One more thing that we will find: When we truly obey all of God's commands, even the hard ones, this world in which we live begins to be a bit less like the hell that we are trying to avoid, and a whole lot more like the Heaven that we claim we want to be part of some day. Wouldn't that be nice?