Midweek Encouragement - “Loving Your Neighbor”

“Loving Your Neighbor”

             ^{“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”}

^{Matthew 19:19 NIV}

         ^{God must have thought the command to love our neighbors was pretty important because it’s repeated at least four times after the book of Matthew. So who is this neighbor and why is he or she so important for us to be told no less than five times to love them?}

         ^{The obvious easy answer is . . . he’s the guy I live next to, the person you borrow the hedge trimmer from, the woman from whom you borrow a cup of sugar when you’re making that cake, the older lady you shoot the breeze with on a Sunday afternoon. But doesn’t the term neighbor include more than that? How about the person you work next to, the guy who tunes your car, or even the person sitting next to you at the ball game? Those persons are your neighbors, too. Are we supposed to love them too? According to the Bible, the answer is yes! Jesus didn’t say, “Love the people who live near you,” or “Love the people you know and are comfortable with.” He said, “Love your neighbor,” which in reality means everybody.}

         ^{Don’t let the word “love” offend you. Expressions of love can take many forms. Just this past Sunday afternoon someone rang our doorbell. Standing there was my 10 year-old neighbor Nick and his 19 year-old red-headed cousin. “Mr. Dale, can we borrow your wheelbarrow? We’re doing some clean up in the yard and we’ll be sure to put it back.” Obviously I said “Sure! Any time!” Expressions of love can be a smile, a kind word, a helping hand, an attitude of forgiveness or even loaning them your wheelbarrow.}

         ^{Maybe you’re thinking, “Oh sure, this is all nice but you don’t know the kind of guy I live next to.” While that’s true, I also know that many times a person’s reaction to you is the reflection of what you’ve shown them. Maybe now is the time to evaluate how you’ve treated your neighbor.}

         ^{This past Saturday, just as I was pushing my lawn mower from the shed to the driveway, I heard someone shout, “Mr. Dale, it’s about time you mowed that lawn!” I had been away at Camp YoliJwa last week and my grass was longer than any of my neighbors. The person who had shouted to me was one of the girls who lives next door, one of my neighbors who had just mowed her lawn. “It’s your peer pressure that’s making me mow my lawn today!” I shouted good-naturedly just before I pulled the rope to start it.}

         ^{Here’s what I want to encourage you to do. If you have any tools or items you’ve borrowed from your neighbors and “forgot” to return them, return them. Take something to your neighbor the next time you visit instead of only going to him or her when you want something. And by all means, if you don’t even know your neighbors’ names, you’d better begin there! Everyone likes to hear his or her name shouted across the neighborhood!}

^{For those of you who will be in worship at the Mt. Laurel Church of God this coming Sunday, June 16, the message will be from this Scripture:}

^{Proverbs 3:1-12}

^{Pastor Dale}

Pastor Dale (PD) and Pamela his wife are honored to serve the Mt. Laurel Church of God. If this Mid-Week Encouragement has helped you, perhaps it may encourage someone else. Feel free to share this message with anyone you choose. And if you'd like to receive PD's Mid-Week Encouragement, just send an email to (kingdomguy@gmail.com) and I'll accommodate your request.