Good Neighbors

James 2:8-9 says, “ 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

There is a problem with the world. Yes, there are many problems, but all of the problems can be boiled down into one main problem. Our problem is pride. We are too proud to admit there is a God. We are too proud to listen to the God we say we believe in. Sin is the Biblical word for when “I” get in the way. What I think, what I want, and what I prefer. Humility is the opposite of pride and therefore, it should be our goal. James tells us that to “really fulfill” God’s Law, we should “love your neighbor as yourself.”

The word “love” here is the “agapao” kind of love. That is the unconditional love of God that He has for all of us. That love is impartial and unlimited. Our problem is that we want to pick our neighbors out as the people we get along with or that we are familiar with. What about those we don’t get along with? What about those people who are unfamiliar? As in the story of the Good Samaritan, our neighbor is whoever God leads us to regardless of income, race, political affiliation, or any other category we like to put people in. Either they are a brother or sister-in-Christ or they are lost. Either way we love them.

Loving all of our neighbors is the command. If we fail to love them all, we have broken the command and are guilty of sin. What is the best way to show love? Just give them Jesus. For brothers and sisters-in-Christ we love and support them with the Word of God and our prayers. For the Lost, we give them Jesus. We offer the Gospel to everyone we meet who will listen. We cannot pick and choose the easy and the comfortable. We need to love the lost and grieve for them until they receive Christ. The Lost are dying and going to hell by the thousands. It must break our hearts to lose even one.

Be blessed and love well,

Pastor Rob