Neighbor part 1
I'm stuck on this idea of treating everybody like they're your favorite. Showing love to them, in other words. So I want to spend a few days looking at the idea of our neighbor. And to do that I need to lay a foundation of a little bit of Scripture. Ready? Ok. "And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and wtih all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?" (Luke 10:25-29). And first things first, this lawyer was trying to trick and trap Jesus. So that's not great right off the bat. But how many people have we encountered that try to use the Bible for justification of... well, just about everything and anything, really. Because you can twist the Bible around to make it say just about anything and everything. But even though he wasn't coming at it from a good place, Jesus was doing His best to get him to a good place. He makes us lie down in green pastures, right? Sometimes whether we want to or not. (Whether we KNOW we want to or not...) So look at the subtle difference between what the guy asked, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and what Jesus answered, "This do, and thou shalt live." The guy was talking about the afterlife. Jesus was talking about experiencing a life of love right here and now. Because that's what it comes down to--love God and love people. Love God BY loving people. Receive and release His love. Experience the gift you've been given by sharing it. But even with that simple of an answer, the guy--a lawyer, always looking for loopholes--goes so far as to say, "Ok. Love my neighbor. But who is my neighbor? I'm only trying to just barely do the least I can do. I'm not trying to love every and any body." Which, again, is not a good place to start from. Because love is for everybody. God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son. But Jesus doesn't rebuke the guy. He's still trying to get His mesage across. So He tells the story about the Good Samaritan. You know, how some poor slob gets mugged and all the religious guys cross the street rather than getting close enough to help him. All except the Samaritan. And there's a lot of types and shadows about Jesus being the Samaritan and what He did for us on the cross, but that's not my focus right now. My focus is on Luke 10:36-37, "Which now of these three, thinkest thou was neighbour unto him that feel among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said, Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." A Samaritan. A perfect stranger. Someone who say someone in need, and met that need. Perfect stranger... perfect neighbor. Because, believe it or not, we're all in this together. Doesn't matter who you come into contact with--they are your neighbor. If you want to live you have to love. And love doesn't play favorites. Love just gives what it (HE) has. To whoever needs it. So I say unto you, Go, and do likewise!