A GOD-LIVED LIFE: Love Your Neighbor

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

          We are observing a series of sermons with a Stewardship emphasis. Stewardship, ultimately, is about our entire life. We use what God gives us to his glory and for the good of our neighbor.
          Each month, I will be sending out an email to further encourage what we pondered on the first Sunday of that month. In this way, the thoughts do not perish by that Sunday evening, but each one can give intentional consideration how he or she may put into practice what was proclaimed as a God-pleasing way to serve him.
          For the month of November, we continue to consider what it means to have A Life Lived for Others.

A LIFE LIVED FOR OTHERS

Week #2        Love your neighbor

            When asked what the greatest of all the Commandments is, our Lord Jesus Christ taught us this: “The most important is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). 

            Why did Jesus add the second Commandment when he was only asked about the greatest?  Because both matter.  Both are God’s will.  How do we demonstrate to God that we love him?  Part of the answer is this: By loving the neighbor he has given us.

            We love our neighbor as God directs us, doing good to him according to God’s word.  The worldly definition of love is to accept whatever our neighbor does, to refuse any judgment of him, and to not hurt his feelings.  But God’s word does not call everything our neighbor does good.  Sins are still sins, and sins are always evil.  To give approval to them is not loving our neighbor.

            But no neighbor will be perfect.  All are sinners, including us who love them.  The love God desires us to show is to seek our neighbor’s good in whatever way we serve him.  In most of the ways we serve our neighbor, their sins are not an issue.  We can demonstrate courtesy, patience, concern, and charity without worrying about our neighbor’s behavior or history.  We can bless our neighbors and pray for them, even if they are our enemies.  See Matthew 5:43-48.

            The short of it is this: God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.  We serve God by serving our neighbor.  We love our neighbor as ourselves, seeking for him the kind of good we would hope he would seek for us.  A God-lived life will always honor God and benefit others.