Who is My Neighbor?

"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." (Luke 6:27-28)

Admit it, when you saw the title of this blog, you were expecting Luke 10, weren't you? Makes sense. I mean, the question prompted a pretty famous parable.

I work for a non-profit organization with an emphasis on loving our neighbors, so that's heard pretty often around the office. I also hear it or see it on a fairly regular basis on the internet. Facebook, Insta, Twitter, memes, and so on. You probably do, too.

And that parable in Luke makes it pretty clear what--or who-- Jesus meant when He told us to love our neighbors. Our neighbor is everyone.

But what about my enemies? Love my enemies? Do good to those who hate me? Bless those who curse me? Pray for those who abuse me? When the very human part of me only wants to hate, curse, and abuse in return?

But wait. Who are my enemies?

Seems like lately we spend an awful lot of time focusing on enemies. Other countries. People of other religions. People who eat broccoli (kidding, I'd be one of those folks). The number of things people can get bent out of shape over--become enemies over--is staggering.

Have you paid attention to the political arena lately? Wow. I've heard people who profess to be Christians spewing bitterness and hatred at our political leaders. I've heard the children of people who profess to be Christians spout disrespect toward or about the government. I may not always agree with our government, but where you do suppose a child learns our country's leaders are our enemies?

A gentle suggestion. The next time you're thinking about loving your enemies, ask yourself what you can do to make them a neighbor. If you're busy loving on your neighbors, you won't have time to dwell on your enemies. Sure, people who are clearly my enemy deserve my prayer (and perhaps a prayer for me, too, to be sure I'm not the cause of the enmity between us--yikes). But I don't want to spend a lot of time combing through my friends and acquaintances, cataloging every infraction, real or imagined, every disagreement, every political difference (no matter how divisive).

So while you're praying for your enemies--and I hope the list has grown shorter just since you started reading this blog--remember to pray for a softer heart in yourself.

I'll go first.