Who is Your Neighbor?

On our first Sunday in Virginia, we attended a local church. A Sunday school teacher welcomed my shy, timid daughter into the classroom and made her feel at home. God’s love and Spirit was active, pouring His love into that teacher, and, subsequently into my daughter. That teacher’s willingness to love his neighbor, in this case a new student in the classroom, transformed my daughter. In that moment I, too, was changed. That observation was a building block that I used to form my faith upon. 

God continued to use others to show me His love. One day while reading Romans 12, something in me changed. Until that point, I viewed worship as a Sunday morning activity. This caused my worship to be confined and restricted to “religious activities.” On Sunday my relationship with God was vibrant, but I was relatively unchanged the rest of the week. I began to grasp that I could worship God by loving my neighbor as myself. I could honor Him by being kind, curious, open-minded, helpful and hopeful to ALL OF THOSE AROUND ME. This is not limited to friends and family, but also the grocery store clerk, the bagger, the bank teller, the DMV agent, and even the individual with whom I may be at odds: everyone is now included. When we do this well, our world can be changed. We get to love those around us in the best manner we can with the love that He has given us. To me this is God’s economy: love! 

When I first began to live into this, I had to be intentional. When I encountered a new person or maybe someone I disagreed with, I would say to myself, “This is a child of God worthy of love, dignity, and respect.” By doing this over time, God has changed me; I now have a passion for people! I encourage you to try that statement with just one person today and see if God changed you as well!