2. Sympathize and succour my neighbour in trouble and do what is needed to help him get upon his feet.
3. Interest myself in the well being of my neighbour after the immediate and acute necessity for aid is past. There are many who are willing to aid when a pressing call comes, but who are unwilling to keep up that aid through the convalescing stage; here is where the summons comes to be not weary in well doing to one's neighbour.
Outside of money help and aid in times of disaster and sickness there are many who are lonesome for words of cheer and acts of kindness on the part of those with whom they daily come in contact. There is a deeper meaning in the parable than that which relates to physical pain. There is a suffering of the soul and a mental trouble which beseech the kindness of the Christlike neighbourly touch.
4. There is also the larger work, which is fundamental, of bringing one's fellow man into the fellowship and communion of Jesus Christ; this is the greatest benefit which any Christian man can confer upon his brother-man (John 1:40-42,45).
CHRIST'S LAW OF LOVE
Statement of the Law.—"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:39). A certain lawyer asked Jesus, "Master, which is the great commandment of the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The kingdom of God will come when this commandment is fully obeyed by men.
Exposition of the Law.—It would seem as if a law so plainly stated would need no explanation or exposition. But before men can rightly love each other they must have certain principles and a certain character. It is not desirable that evil men with depraved thoughts and bad lives love us as they love themselves; for they love that which, if accepted by men, would lead to deep corruption of character.
Jesus Christ well put it that God must first be loved, with all the heart, soul and mind, before a man is ready to love his neighbour as himself. This loving of God, first, implies an acceptance of the standpoint of God in regard to man and the looking upon one's fellow man as God looks upon him. This standpoint of God is best seen in the words and acts of Jesus Christ. A man in order, then, to love his fellow man aright must be thoroughly imbued with the principles of the Master. A man must look upon other men as having souls of eternal value. A man who would do as Jesus would have him do must first have His spirit of self-sacrificing love (Matthew 23:8-12; John 17:19; Philippians 2:5-7; Isaiah 53:3; John 13:12-15).
Application of the Law.—The beauty of this law of love is that it may be universally applied. There is no condition of man that it cannot meet and satisfy. The crying wrongs of the home, society, the industrial world, the state, arise out of its neglect and condemnation. Men seek to make good their claims for things which they think belong to them, they fight for them, gain them or lose them, fight again or are fought, and in consequence race hatred, class and industrial hatred embitter the hearts of men.
This law applied to the life of the individual, sweetens it in its lowest depths and makes the strongest kind of a character. Paul is an example of an able yet impetuous man, who let the gospel of the love of Christ have its supreme way with him. We find in him no shrinking from difficulties or death itself (2 Timothy 4:6-8). In the midst of sore trials he wrote that remarkable classic (1 Corinthians 13) upon love which has been the help and stay of many a burdened soul.