The Mind of a Neighbor – The Kingdom Curriculum XVI (6)

The Mind of a Neighbor

The second great commandment

“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39

“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” Luke 10:36, 37

Learn to Think Like a Neighbor

Hebrews 10:24 is particularly relevant to this discussion of neighbor-love: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” Love and good works–the fruit of obedience to God’s Law–will play out in seeking God and our neighbors so that we might show them love precisely by various kinds of everyday good works. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Two things to note: First, we’ll be better neighbors if we have someone to encourage us in the task. Here is where a soul friend could be of real benefit to your neighbor-love project. If your soul friend knows the neighbors you are praying for, and whom you are trying to reach with the love of Jesus, he could encourage you in your daily work of being a neighbor, and rejoice and praise God with you each time you are able to show proof of neighborliness to others. (What’s a soul friend? Write me at nacurragh@aol.com, and I’ll send you a brochure.)

But a soul friend could also help you prepare for being a neighbor–here’s the second thing in this verse. We are commanded to “consider” how to love and show good works. Before we can be a neighbor we need to get our minds in gear for the calling. That sounds like prayerful planning and thoughtful preparation to me. “Consider” sounds like study what being a neighbor means and begin thinking about each of your neighbors according to their individual needs. We will be more likely to respond to the opportunities for doing good and showing love to our neighbors if we have prepared for them in prayer and are actually making plans for what we want to do, and how we could do it.

A soul friend could be a helpful partner in neighborliness at just this point, someone to stimulate you in thinking about and preparing to love your neighbors–and someone you can stimulate and encourage as well.

Order your copy of The Law of God and The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.