Your Neighborhood

Everyone lives in a neighborhood.  Whether we can shout-out to him or just wave-and-honk as we drive by, we all have neighbors!  With great humor, Mr. Bill and I have speculated what our neighbors thought watching the boy-crazies that went on in our front yard through the years.  We feel fairly certain it’s [at least] added a measure of entertainment!

 

God has something to say about those who live in neighborhoods – again, that’s all of us!  “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”  (Romans 13:10).  The Greek word for neighbor is plesion, which translates “any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet.”  That certainly answers the age-old question, "who is my neighbor?"  This is the plain-and-simple of brotherly love.  The Prophet Micah wrote, "Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their bed! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand." (Micah 2:1).  If we are to be genuine in our Christian faith and seriously seek to apply God's standards, we cannot be dastardly in our thoughts and actions nor can we withhold goodness to those whom Christ [also]loves and died for. Yes, that means that unfriendly cashier, that obnoxious client, that rude driver, as well as those who practice ungodliness -- they all deserve the Goodness of Christ from our hands!  No, this is not a joke ... this is loving our neighbors as God commands!  Yes, like the song goes Oh, what a wonderful world it would be if the peace and love of Christ ruled every heart (Colossians 3:15).  Since it does not, they must rule the hearts of disciples of Christ.  Will you accept the challenge to love your neighbor?  One neighbor at a time, we can truly change our neighborhood!