Love They Neighbor Revisited ~ Who is My Neighbor

Greetings Dear Reader,

One of the things we do to limit our responsibility is to try to quantify the word “Neighbor” to those people we wish to love.  My neighbors then become those I wish them to be.  There is a problem with this.  We are also required to love our enemies.

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?”

It is noteworthy that the same word for love is used here that is used when we are told to love our neighbors.  We are required to treat our enemies with the same kind of love that we treat our neighbors.  There is no room for equivocation or mincing words.

Again, we need to remember that all the laws of God rest on this principle and that of loving God.  Nothing becomes complicated when we realize that.  Our situational arguments have nowhere to stand.  Our what if questions do not matter.  Love your neighbor, your enemy, and everyone in between.

If we think about what that looks like it can be very beautiful.  All the social ills over which we stress fade from view.  Every social problem we face can be dealt with if we choose that we are going to treat everyone with love. 

I realize that this sounds too simplistic.  Arguments about what others will do spring to mind.  We worry about reciprocation and the compliance of others.  We are not told to do unto others as they might do.  We are told to do unto them as we would have done to us. 

If I let that play in my head for a bit, I know how I wish to be treated.  I know how I wish to feel.  It is in doing this that I also find how much I need to meter what I say and do.  Every moment must be one of thinking about how to love God and my neighbor, enemy, cashier, waitress.  When I focus on this I find little time for things outside of it and that is a good thing.

It’s A Beautiful Day in This Neighborhood – Fred Rogers

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,

A beautiful day for a neighbor,

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

It's a neighborly day in this beauty-wood,

A neighborly day for a beauty,

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,

I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So let's make the most of this beautiful day,

Since we're together, we might as well say,

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?

Won't you please,

Won't you please,

Please won't you be my neighbor

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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