Why We Need to Love Our Neighbors: Or at Least Learn to Like Them

By Dr. Walter Wade

Book Summary

All of us are being influenced by the relationships we have established with other people: our neighbors. What kind of relationships do you have with your neighbors and why should you care? If you are like most persons, there will be times when you will find it difficult getting along with the other people you will encounter throughout the course of your life. The types of relationships we establish are important because of the influence they will have in determining the quality of our life. You must learn how to have good relationships with other people if you want to experience the very best that life has to offer.

Dr. Wade has written a book that will show you how, with Gods help, you can improve the quality of your relationships with other people. This may seem difficult to do at first, but it is well worth the effort. Make improving your relationships with other people a priority and you will forever change your life for the better.




About the Author

Dr. Walter H. Wade is a native of Chicago and an Associate Professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of Carthage College and received his medical training at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, the Medical College of Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. He has specialty expertise in rehabilitation medicine and a special interest in medical ethics. He is currently living in the Houston area with his wife and son.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781479750351

Dr. Walter Wade

Dr. Walter H. Wade is a native of Chicago and an Associate Professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of Carthage College and received his medical training at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, the Medical College of Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. He has specialty expertise in rehabilitation medicine and a special interest in medical ethics. He is currently living in the Houston area with his wife and son.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 Discovering Who You Are

Chapter 2 Who Are My Neighbors?

Chapter 3 Why All the Strife?

Chapter 4 Getting Motivated to Love My Neighbors

Chapter 5 Love in Action

Chapter 6 The Consequences of Not Loving My Neighbor

Chapter 7 God’s Best for Those Who Are Willing to Trust Him

Notes

About the Author

Endnotes

That all may come to know

life’s best is experienced by

trusting God and loving the persons

who grace our paths

—Dr. Walter H. Wade

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am greatly indebted to God’s prompting and direction in writing this book that it may serve as a guide for loving and serving our fellow human beings. Also for my wife Imee who remained supportive of me throughout this endeavor. Her encouragement was a constant source of strength for me. I am also indebted to evangelist Jeremiah Asomugha whose ministry has had a profound affect on my life and has been an example of the power of God in changing the lives of people.

INTRODUCTION

Many people believe that it’s okay to treat other people badly, especially if they have treated you in a similar manner. There is a mentality that says if a person hasn’t tried to take advantage of you yet, just wait, they probably will! You better protect yourself and do something to them first before they do it to you…

How do you view your place in the world and your relationships with other people? Do you see yourself as having an obligation to serve and care for the people around you, or do you see yourself as a victim? More importantly, how does God see you and what responsibilities do you and I have to Him and the people He has placed in our lives? Life is not about trying to see how much I can get for myself. Life is about using the gifts that I have been given to help other people. A life lived with a me first attitude is guaranteed to be unfulfilling and empty, a life without inner peace or a positive direction. This is not just hearsay or speculation; others who have lived before us in history have shown this to be true.

This is a book written to show you how to have positive relationships with the many different kinds of people you will meet throughout the course of your life. This book will explain to you what you must do to improve your relationships with other people, and in doing so, how you will then be able to experience the very best that life has to offer.

For it is only when you begin to understand that life is most rewarding when lived helping others that you will truly experience the joy, peace, and prosperity that is promised to all who trust God.

CHAPTER 1

Discovering Who You Are

If I were to ask you to tell me something about yourself, what would you say? Would you tell me how old you were, where you were born, or what you did for a living? How about your sex, ethnicity, favorite color, type of food, or talents and natural abilities? Chances are you would tell me those things about yourself that you considered to be important. You would probably describe yourself in a way that indicated how you wanted other people to think of you. You consider yourself to be important and to have value, or at least you should, and you expect other people to see you this way as well.

According to a 2003 survey published in Wired magazine, it was calculated that the human body was worth approximately $45 million dollars!¹ This figure was determined based on the perceived value of specialized body parts such as bone marrow, DNA, and antibodies. Another article, however, at the Cool Quiz website placed the monetary value of the human body as being worth only $4.50!² If you were to ask a recipient of a transplanted organ this question, what do you think they would say? They would probably tell you that it was impossible for them to place a dollar value on the gift of life that they had just been given. Some things just can’t be measured by a price tag…

So what does God say about us? How important are we to Him and how much does He say we are worth? In the Bible, we are described in the following ways:*

□   I am fearfully and wonderfully made…³

□   What is man that you are mindful of him? You made him a little lower than the angels…⁴

□   For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.⁵

□   … I have called you friends…⁶

Many people don’t consider themselves to be special or as having much worth, but as the above verses indicate, everyone is important to God. Does it make