The Unknown Neighbor

February 4, 2015

““The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”” – Mark 12:29-31

150 feet, maybe as much as 300 if you’re in the country.  The distance between you and a person that is having a bad day.  If you walked out of your front door and took 100 steps before ringing the door bell, might your effort at loving those around you change their entire day?  Many of us are guilty of looking right past those closest to us to try to help people on the other side of the world.  Perhaps the anonymity is what drives our choices or perhaps it is fear of knowing that we have to face our neighbors every day, so we don’t allow ourselves to get really close.

Those who live next door to you, across the street and around the corner are faced with the same eternal decision that you are faced with.  The reality is that they are going to die, and their eternal fate will be established.  When the scriptures tell us to love others like He has loved us, what does that mean to you?  It is God’s desire that none shall perish (2 Peter 3:8-9), and we have been called to serve Him while in this life.  Does your neighbor know of your faith, and do you know of theirs?

Is it sufficient in your mind that you alone have been saved and assured the grace and mercy from the most Holy God on judgment day?  Do you not have enough compassion and love for your those around you to share His redemptive story with them?  Think of the concentric circles surrounding your very house and work outward rather than reaching across the oceans and trying to work inward.  Be His feet, be His voice, be His hands to those around you.  Do not fear of what you will say, for God has promised the Spirit will speak through you at the appropriate time.  Your job is to walk the 150 feet and ring the doorbell.  Stop making excuses, and get your shoes on, there is much to do and many to reach.


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Finding Me - Day 10

September 19, 2014

I must learn to love others.  When I watch the news or open up Explorer or Chrome and the news comes up, it’s always the ugliness of the world.  So and so killed family and then themselves, beheadings, baby mutilation, people beating innocent people because of skin color, politicians demeaning and demoralizing our value system.  I am saddened that this has become the norm in the world and almost to the point of being expected.   How do I love these people?  How do I find from deep within my soul the ability to love those that hurt, those that hate and those that choose to destroy that which I believe?

It’s easy to say the words: Love God and Love others; now try to live it.  Too many times I allow my self interest and emotion to get in the way and I think too much about the circumstance.  The depth of love I should have for others is above the circumstance that is evidenced before me.  Love should be for the person not their action, and their equality in the eyes of the Lord.  For each of us are born with the same equal opportunity to achieve righteousness and experience the eternal presence of the Lord.  Loving others is beyond the emotional feelings I have for another, but rather it’s about the state of their eternal soul and sharing in the Lord’s desire that not one shall perish, but all might enter into His Kingdom on that day of judgment. (2 Peter 3:9)  So therefore, I call upon the Lord to work in me and through me to love them in a manner that their soul might also come to know Him.

Day 10: Learning to Love
Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31

We have all heard John 3:16 and can likely quote it right now in our mind.  “….that whosoever believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  How did God love others?  He gave them a way to receive eternal peace, joy and happiness rather than the pit of Hell; and He did it by providing a sacrificial lamb, His only Son.  You and I will never experience the pain and the anguish of giving the life of our child so that billions of others might be saved.  When God calls us to love our neighbor as yourself, this means put their needs above yours, focus on their salvation and help them find His eternal peace.  Forgetting about your own desires and needs, but lift them up.  For this is what He did by giving His Son for our salvation.

Prayer:
Father,
There is violence, anger, debauchery and unrighteousness rampant throughout the earth.  You see this and are not surprised, for in Your word you right of the last days.  Help me Lord to see through the pain, the anger and violence to see the person You have created and to love them the way You do, with an eternal perspective.  Guide my tongue to say the right things to help restore them to Your flock, and Your ways of righteousness.  Let me love them in the manner You wish them to be loved.  In Your name I pray.   – Amen

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