When Jesus was asked by a scholar “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus answered “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your strength and with all of your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 25, 27)
It is not by accident that these two commandments are together (love God, love others). They are not mutually exclusive, they cannot be separated. We cannot love God and not have His love within us overflow to others. God designed us that when we have accepted the gift of His Son, Jesus, and we seek to love Him with everything we have, that love is so great it cannot be contained. It is to be shared with our “neighbors”.
Who are our neighbors?
Neighbors can literally mean the people living next to us. They can also be those next to us at work, school, sports, etc. Neighbors don’t have to be people we already know. A neighbor could be next to us for a short time sitting on a bus, in a doctor’s office, or in a grocery store line. Neighbors are dynamic and not a coincidence. God gives us neighbors to love in relationship and over time. He gives us neighbors to love only in a brief moment.
- Ask yourself each day, Who will God send to be my neighbors today? Who can I love?
- Ask God in prayer to open your eyes and ears and prepare your heart and hands to love.
Who are your neighbors?
We would love to hear who some of your neighbors have been lately!
