“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself'” (Galatians 5:14).
Because we are human, because we are selfish, because we are all sinners we are going to hurt others by our words and actions. It’s not a matter of if we hurt others but a matter of when. It goes with being a sinner.
Just as we hurt others, others will hurt us.
What a fine world we live in!!! What are we to do? How then can we live?
How can we live in a way that honors God and honors one another? How can we love our neighbor as ourselves?
Here is the key: You absolutely have the right to be hurt when others injure and betray us. But you never have the right to be cruel and mean.
Because we are sinners, we are going to hurt each other. We will offend each other. We will betray one another. That’s bad enough. If you add to hurt, offense, and betrayal meanness and cruelty? Wow. Forget it. Relationships are destroyed.
“The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: love your neighbor as yourself.” Protect one another. Give each other the benefit of the doubt. Pray for one another. Do your best to honor God by loving God’s children.
You can hurt, but you never have the right to be cruel and mean.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Praxis: Faith in Action 