Reasons for Love

"Sometimes we hear sermons teaching that we should learn to love ourselves so that we can love others as well. But in the Hebrew of Leviticus 19:18 where this command is given, it can also be interpreted in a slightly different way: "Love your neighbor who is like yourself." In other words, they are not so different from us. Maybe that's what is hard about loving them, they are like us.

The author continues, "The time when we show the most love is not when people are easy to love, but when they are unlovable."

[Page 128, Listening to the Language of the Bible, Tverberg & Okkema]