“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13: 8-10)
This past Thursday July 4th we celebrated Independence Day and all the freedoms, opportunities, and blessings this country makes available to each one of us. One of those rights, freedoms, and choices made available to us is we have is the choice to love our neighbors. As citizens of the USA we also have the freedom and choice not to love our Neighbor. However, Jesus, as our Lord of Lord’s and King of Kings You did not give us this freedom or choice. We all, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven are not given the option but the command to love our neighbors, to love our neighbors.
Yet most of us spend more time avoiding our neighbors than loving them. We get in the car in our garage in the morning, hit a garage door opener and pull out and head to work or whatever is on our agenda for this trip. We drive past our neighbors. We drive past the poor and the homeless and we pretend not to see them. On the way back home later in the day we repeat the same drive, ignoring and avoiding our neighbors. We push the garage door opener and pull into our garage and close the garage door behind us “successfully” avoiding our any contact with our neighbors, and never even stepping foot in our neighborhood. And if we go outside that evening it is on our back deck of our fenced back yard away from our neighbors.
We know the commandment to love our neighbor. We know that in the final judgment Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats, those who loved their neighbors from those who did not: “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me… “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” (Matthew 25:34, 40, 41, 45)
We know this, Yet we fence in our yards, build back decks, do not host Bible studies in our homes, and structure most of our lives to avoid our neighbors. We even call where we worship on Sunday’s “Sanctuaries” from the world. Loving your neighbor does nor “just happen.” Loving your neighbor takes intentionality. You have to intentionally set aside and prioritize margins of time in your day and week to love your neighbor. Again, on July 4th we celebrate Independence Day and all the freedoms, opportunities, and blessings this country makes available to each one of us. In my post Thursday, I reflected on how each of us who were blessed to be born in the USA have “Hit the Lottery” and we need to be generous. One of greatest blessings this country has provided each one of us is with houses and apartments to live in. Each one of our homes comes equipped with front doors. Doors that can used to be generous and opened up to welcome and love our neighbors. Or doors that can be used to shut off neighbors and keep them from entering.
Let us recommit to Jesus’ command to love our neighbors! Christians hang on their walls pictures and paintings containing the words from Josua 24:15, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” When in reality they use their homes to only serve themselves and are not using there homes at all to serve the Lord and to obey His command to love their neighbor. You can commit to prayer walking your neighborhood and start a Bible study, prayer group, or other gathering in your home. Invite a different neighbor every other week over for dinner. And join in with other ministries who :love their neighbors” by volunteering at the Manna House, Downtown Rescue Mission, First Stop, House of Harvest or other ministry. “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Just like planning a dinner party with friends takes intentionality: setting a date, setting a time, making a guest list and inviting, and planning a menu, loving your neighbors takes the same intentionality. If you do not prioritize dates and times in your calendar, if you do not pray over your guest list and unite, it will never happen.
Take a moment to watch this short video.