Loving Your Neighbor
By By Kelly Chesnut, Deeply Rooted Coordinator
Post date: March 2, 2019
Historically a “neighbor” meant someone who lived closest in proximity to you. In today’s world, loving your closest neighbor might be a challenge if you only see them for a brief moment when you’re coming home from work (if you even see them at all!).
Our family moved into a new neighborhood last summer. We’ve met the neighbors on either side of us and those directly across the street. We love that our neighbors are from diverse backgrounds — Brazilian, Chinese, African American. There’s diversity in religious backgrounds too: neighbors who follow another major religion live just a few houses down from us.
We’ve had occasional conversations in the front and back yards, which can be a bit stilted at times as we don’t always share the same language. And while my family and I had been friendly with our neighbors, we hadn’t really gotten to know them yet.
That changed when we saw a firetruck and ambulance parked in front of our next door neighbor’s house. Out of care and concern, we waited to act until we knew how we could help James and Hannah. The neighbor on James and Hannah’s other side, whom we hadn’t met yet, came out too. John and I introduced ourselves to Bethany, and we visited together for a while. We learned that Bethany and her husband are Christians and had joined James and Hannah in looking for a local church to attend. Hannah, who is from China, had just been baptized two weeks earlier!
After Hannah was taken to the hospital, I suggested Bethany join us in prayer for Hannah and James. The three of us gathered in a circle, held hands and prayed. It was a really special time!
Too often, we consider our “neighbors” to be either those close to us in location or relationship, or those with whom we share commonalities such as economic background, faith or ethnicity. Opportunities to practice loving people with whom we share commonalities (like Bethany and Hannah) or with whom we spend most of our time are certainly abundant and important to practice.
But as God expands our definition of the word “neighbor” to include all people — those with whom our interactions are limited or even those with whom our perspectives and experiences differ — he gives us opportunities to practice loving our “neighbor” wherever we are.
Let’s ask God to give us hearts and minds that desire to show care and compassion to all people, because all people are neighbors whom we’re called to love. We may be the only “Jesus” some will ever see.
Questions for Reflection:
What “neighbor” is God asking you to love this week?
Think of one person you can show care and compassion for. What will you do or say to display God’s love and grace to them?
What are some ways you can intentionally express Christ’s love to people you don’t know?
Dive deeper into what it means to love your neighbor in our devotional.
Para leer el devocional en español oprima aquí.