"Love you neighbour as yourself." This command of Jesus has unfortunately often been relegated to bumper stickers and fridge magnets. Most Christians believe it is true: we should love our neighbours, but then we turn the command into a metaphor, and in order to justify ourselves we make up our own definition of who our neighbours are. We choose to love people who are similar to us, or people we enjoy being around.
On the other hand, we sometimes interpret "neighbour" to mean "the whole world", in which case it becomes such a vast task, that it overwhelms and we do nothing. "If you aim at everything, you'll hit nothing," the saying goes. But what if we actually took Jesus' command literally, and decided that Jesus really did want us to love those people who are right beside us, next door to us? Like the Good Samaritan who came to the rescue of the person right beside him, we too need look no further than our own neighbourhood for people love. Rather than delegate the job of caring for people to social agencies or government, Christians can literally change the world, and solve most of the social problems that plague us, simply by walking across the street, ringing the doorbell and showing Jesus' love to our neighbours. This week we begin a 5-week series on the Art of Neighbouring.
On the other hand, we sometimes interpret "neighbour" to mean "the whole world", in which case it becomes such a vast task, that it overwhelms and we do nothing. "If you aim at everything, you'll hit nothing," the saying goes. But what if we actually took Jesus' command literally, and decided that Jesus really did want us to love those people who are right beside us, next door to us? Like the Good Samaritan who came to the rescue of the person right beside him, we too need look no further than our own neighbourhood for people love. Rather than delegate the job of caring for people to social agencies or government, Christians can literally change the world, and solve most of the social problems that plague us, simply by walking across the street, ringing the doorbell and showing Jesus' love to our neighbours. This week we begin a 5-week series on the Art of Neighbouring.
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"Love Your Neighbour": Cecil & Pat | Tim & Wilson: Neighbours |
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