We love our neighbors by respecting them. This daily devotional looks at how Paul instructed us to do that.
Nuggets
- Our love for our neighbors must be real.
- Our love for our neighbors should be accepting but nurturing them as disciples.
- Loving our neighbors means we live up to God’s standards.
Devotions in How to Love Our Neighbors series
We have to the opportunity to interact with others throughout the day. Some may have a personality similar to ours. Others may not.
God calls us to honor others. What instructions did Paul give us to do that?
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Honor means to esteem and respect another because of a good reputation.
A Love That Is Real
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (Rom. 12: 9-13 ESV)
Our love for our neighbors must be real.
If we consider honor as respect, it takes it more to our treatment of others rather than our feelings for them. But then we sometimes have another problem with that.
There is this whole controversy as to whether respect is given or earned. I think I fall somewhere in the middle.
When Adam was going through the public school system, I respected his teachers as having authority over him. They had the preparation needed to do the job.
But when they were placing more triggers in his day rather than accommodations, this Helicopter Mom lost respect for them. Yes, they were still in a position of authority, but I did not blindly follow their recommendations.
What about when someone moves in next door? How did Paul want us to interact with them?
Paul instructed us to not be hypocrites. We are to actually love others, not just play that we do. We are to accept them.
We are all the same. Regardless of our race and ethnicity, we are all children of Adam. We are one big family.
Jesus accepts us as siblings when we ask forgiveness for our sins. He asks us to accept others the same way. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13: 35 ESV).
Don’t take Jesus’ acceptance of us as license to continue to sin. Does He say, “Keep on doing what we are doing?” No, He says, “Go and sin no more” (Jn. 8: 11).
That is what it means to hate evil.
We are to love others like family. Our motivation for loving them must be to love them as Christ would.
Paul told us that we need to enthusiastically serve others. We express our love by doing.
That will require our diligence. And passion. And patience. And compassion. And humility.
Need I go on?
We aren’t going to have those unless we are focused on God. Our love has to come from God.
That goes back to motivation. We have to be motivated by the desire to follow God’s Will to love others as they are to win them to God’s kingdom.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
A Love That Is Accepting
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” (Rom. 12: 14-16 ESV)
Our love for our neighbors should be accepting but nurturing them as disciples.
Disciples should deal with conflict in a way to honor God and each other.
It is easy to let our emotions explode when conflict arises between neighbors. That isn’t how God want us to respond.
Jesus told us that we would suffer from persecution. “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name” (Mt. 24: 9 CSB).
When we know people are really rejecting Jesus rather than us, that changes how we view the persecution. Our hearts break knowing the judgment they are scheduled to receive unless they accept Jesus as Savior and Redeemer.
For being a connected society, in reality we really aren’t. We are connected on the surface.
God wants us to truly connect. He wants us to not only be sympathetic for others, but He also wants us to involved in each others’ lives.
We are to rejoice with others in their joy and encourage them in their hardships.
We are to pray for each other. The best way to do that is to know some specifics as to what we are asking God to do.
In order to do that, we have to know the person and the situation for whom we are praying. We have to truly connect.
That goes back to what we said in the first devotion in this series. Love is all about meeting the needs of someone else.
Yes, we meet the needs of this world that we can. But most of all, we meet their needs by introducing them to Jesus.
God has instructions on how we are to interact with people. Loving our neighbors means that we do not feel that we are better than them.
Many of us probably see where we fail to love others in certain ways. We may not feel sympathetic or empathetic. We may feel arrogance and superiority.
The good news for us is this is where God will help us grow.
Being haughty talks about our opinion of ourselves. Lyth said this presents itself several ways: in our opinions, our judgments, and our plans.
Resource
We love our neighbors by interacting with them in an accepting manner but as Jesus does. We can come to Him as we are. However, being a disciple of Jesus does not mean we can remain in our sins.
We are to love others regardless whether they are disciples or not. However, we are not to condone their sinning ways. We are to lead them to Jesus.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
A Love That Follows God
“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’.. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12: 17-21 ESV)
Loving our neighbors means we live up to God’s standards.
We make a choice to follow God. Every day, we make many choices when we try to live that out.
Yes, there are going to be times when Satan throws us into situations where we get into conflict with others. Our reaction to situations must be godly.
When we are wronged, we must love those who wrong us. Yes, it will not be easy to do that, but that is what God calls us to do.
Instead, we are to show God’s love to others. That is how we show we are God’s children.
Glossary
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me’” (Mt. 25: 34-36 ESV).
No, this isn’t how we earn our way into Heaven. Jesus was talking to those “… who are blessed by my Father …” (Mt. 35: 34 ESV).
This is how we are to treat others to show we are saved.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Making the Connections
Honoring our neighbors is showing respect to them. We love them the way God does.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t try to compromise with sin. We can’t control it.
- Be kind and courteous to others.
- Surrender ourselves to God.
- Have a prayerful mindset.
- Live in unity with others.
Father God. You have given us a big responsibility. You call us to show others You through us. Help us to love them as You do. Give us patience and compassion in our interactions with them. In all we do, let us reflect You. Amen.
What do you think?
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