Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
In Galatians 5 Paul says that “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Does that surprise you? I often hear Christians lamenting over how they need to read their Bibles more, pray more, go to church more, etc. Rarely do I hear Christians say, “I need to love my neighbor. That’s what God calls me to do. Jesus himself said that loving your neighbor is the next most important thing to loving God.” Loving your neighbor doesn’t seem so difficult on the surface. It sounds much easier than being disciplined in your private devotions or prayer life. That is, until you try to do it.
When our family lived in Fort Worth, we had a neighbor who lived in a back apartment next door to us. His name was Chris. After meeting him, we quickly realized that Chris represented everything that our parents had told us to avoid. Chris was almost homeless. He couldn’t keep a job and had been in jail numerous times. Were we supposed to love him? It was hard at first. We weren’t sure how to love him. We tried to provide friendship, food, clothes and much more. He would knock on our door late at night wanting to come in and talk. This was not always what we wanted, but we knew he needed a friend and perhaps even a place where he could avoid his bad habits. We thought that God had sent us to help Him. Little did we know that God had sent Chris to help us. The crazy thing is that we ended up enjoying our time with Chris. He was known to show up unannounced and uninvited on Christmas Day, Easter and Thanksgiving. Sometimes we would invite him but more often he would invite himself. We would pull out another plate and share our meal with him. Before long, Chris became like a part of our family. We’ll always cherish him.
You don’t have to look very far to find someone to love. We are literally surrounded by people who need our love. They are in our homes, on our streets, in our schools, in our churches…They are everywhere. As John says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Loving your neighbor will cost you.
Loving your neighbor will not be easy.
Loving your neighbor will test your patience.
Loving your neighbor will change you.
Loving your neighbor will be the best thing you could ever do.
Feb 29, 2016 by Kendall
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Love of Neighbor
In Galatians 5 Paul says that “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Does that surprise you? I often hear Christians lamenting over how they need to read their Bibles more, pray more, go to church more, etc. Rarely do I hear Christians say, “I need to love my neighbor. That’s what God calls me to do. Jesus himself said that loving your neighbor is the next most important thing to loving God.” Loving your neighbor doesn’t seem so difficult on the surface. It sounds much easier than being disciplined in your private devotions or prayer life. That is, until you try to do it.
When our family lived in Fort Worth, we had a neighbor who lived in a back apartment next door to us. His name was Chris. After meeting him, we quickly realized that Chris represented everything that our parents had told us to avoid. Chris was almost homeless. He couldn’t keep a job and had been in jail numerous times. Were we supposed to love him? It was hard at first. We weren’t sure how to love him. We tried to provide friendship, food, clothes and much more. He would knock on our door late at night wanting to come in and talk. This was not always what we wanted, but we knew he needed a friend and perhaps even a place where he could avoid his bad habits. We thought that God had sent us to help Him. Little did we know that God had sent Chris to help us. The crazy thing is that we ended up enjoying our time with Chris. He was known to show up unannounced and uninvited on Christmas Day, Easter and Thanksgiving. Sometimes we would invite him but more often he would invite himself. We would pull out another plate and share our meal with him. Before long, Chris became like a part of our family. We’ll always cherish him.
You don’t have to look very far to find someone to love. We are literally surrounded by people who need our love. They are in our homes, on our streets, in our schools, in our churches…They are everywhere. As John says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Loving your neighbor will cost you. Loving your neighbor will not be easy. Loving your neighbor will test your patience. Loving your neighbor will change you. Loving your neighbor will be the best thing you could ever do.