what does it mean to be a good neighbor
Being a adept neighbor can happen in a million different means. Ask a few friends what information technology looks like to be a good neighbor and yous're likely to get a dozen wonderful—yet different—answers. Endeavoring to be a good neighbor in whatsoever season, let solitary during a global pandemic, presents as many opportunities as it does challenges.
It's important to inquire: Who is my neighbor? What are my responsibilities equally a good neighbor? How do I connect with others and bear witness them the hope I have in Christ? Equally Christians, we are defined by our behavior and how we live out our faith in front of others. Nosotros look to God to teach and empower usa to be good neighbors in word and deeds.
With our world in a state of uncertainty, we all need a reminder of who we're chosen to exist. Together with Moody Radio, we went back to the Word of God to share some essential lessons on how to be good neighbors. Throughout the Bible, God continually gives attention to the posture (or eye) of man before speaking to the deportment of man (Matt. 12:34b). With this framework in mind, we nowadays seven ways the Bible teaches usa to be proficient neighbors in posture and in practice.
Four biblical postures of a proficient neighbor
ane. Love God first
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your heed.' This is the first and greatest commandment.—Matthew 22:37–38 (NIV)
The starting place for being a skillful neighbor is loving God with all that we are. The applications of this dear are endless, but He is the get-go focus and recipient of our love.
two. Love your neighbor as yourself
Jesus continues speaking to the Sadducees in Matthew 22:39 by saying, "And the second [commandment] is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'" Later on stating that the greatest commandment is to love God, Jesus tells His people that their adjacent greatest responsibility is to love their neighbor as dearly every bit they dear themselves.
three. Beloved your neighbour like Christ loved y'all
Jesus commands His people to beloved their neighbors as they love themselves. In John xiii:34–35, merely before the feast of the Passover, earlier He is betrayed by Judas and after hung on a cross, Jesus elevates the love we are to have for our neighbors past giving a new command: "Love i some other. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this anybody will know that you are my disciples, if you honey on another." Jesus'south command to love as He loved the states is further demonstrated in John 15:xiii (NIV): "Greater honey has no one than this: to lay downwards one'due south life for i'due south friends."
4. Be a Expert Samaritan
This last biblical posture builds upon the outset 2 by answering the question, "Who is my neighbor?" An expert in the law asks this question of Jesus in Luke x:25–37. Jesus responds by telling him the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable, a despised Samaritan helps an injured Jewish homo whom both a priest and a Levite have chosen to ignore. The Samaritan bandages the injured man's wounds and takes him to an inn where he pays for his connected care. Jesus, in telling the parable, changes the lawyer's question from, "Who is my neighbour?" to, "Which of these iii . . . was a neighbor?" The lawyer rightly identifies the unlikely character, the Samaritan, equally the one who displayed mercy. Jesus is telling the lawyer that he must love anyone he comes across with the aforementioned care, mercy and generosity displayed past the Samaritan.
Iii biblical practices of a good neighbor
1. Pray for your neighbors past name (James v:16b, Matt 6:five)
Whether for a coworker, a friend, or a literal next-door neighbor, you tin can do being a good neighbour by praying for the people God has placed in your life. The better you know your neighbor, the more than specifically you tin can pray for them. Pray for their family, career and health. Ask God to bless them—physically and spiritually—and contain Scriptures like Ephesians i:15–19 into your prayers.
2. Inquire and listen (Luke 3:ten-11, Matt. 25:44-45, Phil. 2:iv)
The better y'all know your neighbor, the more intentional y'all volition be in praying for them. Ask, how tin I pray for you? In what ways do you need encouragement? Volition you share with me what y'all've been going through? Simple questions encourage others to share their stories and needs. Enquire God for wisdom to know when to offer words of life and when to simply listen. Be prepared to emulate the Samaritan by offering the same compassion and willingness to sacrificially care for your neighbor'southward needs.
3. Respond (2 Cor. 9:6-8, ane Thess. 5:11, Prov. 19:17, Gal. six:two, Heb. 13:16)
The Samaritan didn't but offer the injured man his pity; he also tended to his physical needs. It may not be your place to provide for all your neighbor'due south needs, simply just offer an uplifting word or tangible gift can convalesce many hardships. Whether being a good neighbor means speaking words of encouragement or paying for a tank of gas, remember Jesus'southward words: "'Truly I tell you, whatsoever y'all did for one of the to the lowest degree of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me'" (Matt. 25:xl; NIV).
Source: https://info.chministries.org/moody-good-neighbor
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