Won't you be my neighbor?

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood, A neighborly day for a beauty, Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you! I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So let's make the most of this beautiful day, Since we're together we might as well say, Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor? Won't you please, Won't you please? Please won't you be my neighbor?

I sing these words to my two year old son often. It's the theme song from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and it's his favorite. But the past few weeks, I haven't been able to get through it without shedding some tears.

As I'm sure you're well aware...we seem to have lost sight of what it means to be a neighbor. Especially here lately. People. Are. Polarized. We're isolated. 2020 has been a doozy. And that's putting it lightly. Politics. Coronavirus. And of course, the tragic death of George Floyd and all that has since followed. Hatred is running high. And love seems to be in short supply.

But why? Why is it that when we need to love our neighbor most, it seems like we love them the least? Why do we let love jump ship when the going gets tough? Why do we deem those who're different than us as less worthy of love?

Because brokenness.

Because way back when, in the Garden of Eden, sin entered in. Just as Adam and Eve let themselves be deceived by the serpent then, so we are still allowing the Enemy to have a say and to duke us today. We let him steal and kill and deceive and destroy and divide.

Until we don't.

Until we decide that the devil doesn't get a say, he is going to keep on having a hay day. (If you think he isn't at work in all of this, I promise you don't have too look too hard to see him in all this divisiveness.) When what we stand for fails to align with what Scripture tells us, then we've allowed the devil to take hold.

Until we declare that the Word of God is supreme over all earthly things, evil ideologies are going to keep creeping in and calling themselves "truth" simply because "culture" says so. But we don't define truth by what's culturally cool or over whatever the current outrage is or even what the media tells us to believe. In John 8:31-47, there's a whole section of Scripture under the heading of "Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are". I'd recommend giving it a read if you're unfamiliar with it, but here's some excerpts: "Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ..... You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ..... Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”" Those are some pretty harsh words. Do we hear them? Do we acknowledge and align ourselves with the devil's desires or the truth that God alone can give?

Then you will know the truth,

and the truth will set you free.

John 8:32

Until we define things like "love" and "neighbor" like Jesus does, we're doomed to continue living under these divisive lies that society as deemed "true". Right now, the world around us is trying real hard to convince us that our neighbors are actually our enemies. But the funny thing about that is, God tells us to love our enemies too. Matthew 5:43-48 says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.....If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?.....And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?'"

"But I tell you, love your enemies..."

Matthew 5:44

The thing about these times we find ourselves in is this: if you really stop and listen, we all are against awful things happening. (As the wife of a police officer, allow me to assure you that the honorable officers, who make up the vast majority of law enforcement, despise those officers who commit sinful and unjust acts of atrocity, and I would be willing to bet that the dislike them even more than you do.) Yet when these things happen (and happen they will because of this fallen world we're living in), we further divide. We let our differences define us instead of putting our heads together to work towards a solution. We categorize those on the other side as being not just of ill intent, but evil. And sometimes they are. We are all capable of evil. (Yes, you. Yes, me. Yes, all the other somebodies.) But a whole lot of the time those on the other side aren't coming at the issue with a heart full of malice, but just literally have a different view than you do because they are at a different vantage point than you. That doesn't necessarily make them wrong, but it does mean that there's likely some wisdom that you can glean off of listening to them...you know, if we could all manage to be civil long enough to actually carry on a conversation with one another, that is.

We do live in a broken world because of that original sin that entered in, but there's a lot of people out there trying their hardest and doing their damnedest to overcome it with good. Just making a generalization about a group of people doesn't begin to make your ill assumptions about them true. And turning judgment and hatred and further injustice towards them definitely doesn't solve any problems. This is a two way street. And sin can come from both directions.

But so can love.

Romans 12 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture and it is extremely relevant in all of this. I could probably include quite a bit of it right here, but instead I am going to recommend that you go read it right now.

Did that? Do it again. And again. And then yet again, doing so in light of the currently polarized social divide. Rinse and repeat. Let it sink in really deeply.

"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor..."

Romans 12:9-10

I don't know about you, but I long to see this kind of love. The kind of love that hates wrong but loves right. (Right, as in what God defines to be so.) The kind of love that doesn't care what side of the polarized divide you find yourself on, but recognizes you as an imago dei regardless and acknowledges the same of those on the other side of the outrage. The kind of love that Jesus used to bridge the gap that sin created between us and God. That same kind of love can bridge the seemingly massive gap mankind has created between the two sides that seem to exist in every story. With God, we can come together and show love to one another and work together for the better instead of continually allowing tensions to rise and polarize.

Christ Himself encompassed all of God's law in love. That's some pretty important stuff, especially if you've ever taken the time to read through the Old Testament and all the law found there. (If you haven't, you really should...it helps round out and give greater context and understanding to the overarching theme of the Gospel throughout the entire Bible. But, realistically, I don't expect you to have time to do this before you finish this blog post, so I give you permission to save that one for later.) Matthew 22:37-39 tells us, "And he said to him,“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Romans 13:9-10 echoes this same sentiment and then goes even further, declaring that "Love does no wrong to a neighbor. "

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Matthew 22:39

But who is your neighbor? Even back in biblical times, people asked Jesus the same thing. (They didn't get it then, and we still don't always get it right now--thanks fallen sin nature!) He responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10. And in that story, the "neighbor" didn't turn out to be who they expected then. And as much as we may not like it, our neighbor isn't always who we want or expect it to be still to this day. That's a pretty hard pill to swallow sometimes. Especially in this current day and age when we seem to have lost sight of what biblical love looks like because it is at best inconvenient, if not contradictory to the cultural "causes" we're fighting for. I hate to break it to you, but there is no battle more worth fighting for than to love like Jesus does.

1 John 4 is another phenomenal chapter of the Bible which is relevant in all of this. Just like with Romans 12, I recommend you to take pause and go read it through a time or two or a few. Soak it in and let it shed some scriptural light on the current societal situation. And ask yourself if we're looking at love like God does or are we doing things the way the world would have us to? God is love, after all, so by and large He should be the source by which we seek to characterize love. The world wants us to distort and redefine love through their eyes, but God's love doesn't polarize.

1 Corinthians 10:24 says no one should seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. I'm going to be really blunt right now, because all these sound like really feel good Scripture verses. But when the rubber hits the road, and when societal outrage is pitting us against one another, and when "wokeness" demands you to see things a certain way to stay relevant, and when you can't carry on a conversation with anyone who sees things differently than you do, and when we choose to polarize instead of empathize, are we really doing that "loving thy neighbor" thing all that well? Are we really seeking to serve the Lord and to love others like Jesus does? Even if that means we have to hold to an unpopular opinion, or heaven forbid, have people look down upon us for it?

"Let no one seek his own good,

but the good of his neighbor."

1 Corinthians 10:24

What if loving our neighbor means lending a listening ear over choosing to slander? What if it means digging in and doing research and forming informed and well rounded opinions off of what we've learned, in light of the truth that we find in God's word? What if we've been doing it wrong all along? Because, to be really raw and honest with you, right now it sure doesn't feel like we're doing it right. When we take the hatred that was aimed at one people group and turn it towards another, we're kind of missing the point altogether. And not by just a little bit.

Loving others isn't easy, at least not all of the time. In fact, when we look back at 1 Corinthians 13, love is described as patient and kind, not envious or boastful, nor arrogant or rude, not demanding, nor irritable or resentful. It doesn't rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in truth! It bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things! Easy isn't in the description, and some of those things sound rather contrary to anything remotely resembling ease. And remember Christ, what He endured in His love for us? Nonetheless He loved those that society deemed as different and even unworthy. Let's learn from His example. May He open our eyes to see things and people as He does, and to learn to love them like He desires us to do.