Love // Jesus // Neighbors

“You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:43-44‬ ‭

I’ve been struggling with the verses for this kind of radical love because I see in myself someone who finds it hard to love my neighbors, and Jesus calls me to love my enemies. 

How easy is it to conceptually love others? But how difficult is it to actually love people when I’m in the trenches, when it’s inconvenient, when it’s challenging, when it’s uncomfortable. 

So we start easy. We start with the very simplest, so simple, Jesus didn’t even preach it, it was assumed: love your neighbor. 

We love our neighbors who sleep in the same house as us by putting their needs before our own, cleaning up after ourselves, and offering them the last slice of cake. 

We love our neighbors who live across the street by keeping our yards clean, bringing them treats, and including them in our lives. 

We love our neighbors on social media by speaking kindly and gently towards each other. 

We love our neighbors in the service industry by wearing face coverings, just in case we maybe, possibly are sick, so that their income stream and health are not compromised by our inconvenience. 

We love our neighbors who are immunocompromised by not gathering in large groups, keeping our distance, and following the rules. 

We love our neighbors who are first responders by avoiding purposefully dangerous activities that could take resources from emergencies that were unavoidable. 

We love our neighbors in politics by respecting their opinions and lovingly listening to their stories and the heart behind the vote. 

We love our neighbors who look, act, and think differently than us by treating them with respect, honoring their experiences, cultivating conversations towards common grounds, and offering assistance in the way they best receive it. 

We love our neighbors around the world by being good stewards of the resources God has provided, listening with empathy to their unique stories and world views, and making room at our tables for them. 

But that’s the minor leagues, as Christians, we’re called to go above and beyond the easy street love for our neighbors and are challenged to radically love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. 

But we can’t even get our act together to love our neighbors, not any more than those who have not experienced the transformational love of our savior. 

Often times we look at our neighbors as if they are the enemies. We see someone who looks different, acts different or believes different and think these differences make them the enemy, but our choice to be hurt or offended does not make them the enemy and it flies in the face of love. So let’s start simple and love our neighbors.