Thoughts on loving your neighbour.
“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 a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 22:37 40)

“When you open the door which you shut in order to pray to God, the first person you meet as you go out is your neighbour whom you shall love. Wonderful!” (Soren Kierkegaard)

“The commandment is that you shall love, but when you understand life and yourself, then it is as if you should not need to be commanded, because to love human beings is still the only thing worth living for; without this life you really do not live.” (Soren Kierkegaard)

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Let’s find ways to help and serve our neighbour.

First of all, God has commanded us in faith to love and help our neighbour-

Jesus said:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:34

We should always remind ourselves that God doesn’t need our good works, our neighbour does.

Secondly, God has ordained that He would have us humans help our neighbour-

“Our works are God’s masks, behind which He remains hidden, although He does all things. If Gideon had not obeyed and gone to battle with Midian, the Midianites would never have been conquered, although God could, of course, have conquered them without Gideon. He could also give you corn and fruit without your ploughing and planting, but that is not His will; neither is it His will that your ploughing and planting should produce corn and fruit; but you must plough and plant and say a blessing on your work and pray: ‘Now help, O God; give us now corn and fruit, dear Lord; for ploughing and planting will not yield us anything. It is Thy gift.
God is the giver of all good gifts; but you must fall to, and take the bull by the horns, which means you must work to give God an occasion and a mask.” (from Martin Luther’s exposition of Psalm 147.)

He has created a world in which we are given the task of doing good.

When we serve another person, God is serving them, as if He was wearing a mask. This sounds like a challenging idea, so how can we explain it?

Swedish Theologian Gustav Wingren summarises this beautifully:

“In his vocation man does works which effect the well-being of others; for so God has made all offices. Through this work in man’s offices, God’s creative work goes forward, and that creative work is love, a profusion of good gifts. With persons as his “hands” or “coworkers,” God gives his gifts through the earthly vocations, toward man’s life on earth (food through farmers, fishermen and hunters; external peace through princes, judges, and orderly powers; knowledge and education through teachers and parents, etc., etc.). Through the preacher’s vocation, God gives the forgiveness of sins. Thus love comes from God, flowing down to human beings on earth through all vocations, through both spiritual and earthly governments.”

What does this mean? It means that when we pray “give us this day our daily bread”, God answers. He answers through the farmer, the delivery company, the market and the person behind the counter. It also means when others are not getting their daily bread, or justice, or care and
love, or whatever is truly beneficial for them, it is not God’s fault- it is ours. Human beings are naturally inclined to be selfish or unaware of their neighbour’s plight. For us, it is easier and more natural to be selfish than it is to be giving.

We need a correction of the heart in order to awaken our love of God and
neighbour.

This occurs when we come to faith in Christ and believe the good news that our sins are forgiven on the Cross. We are given a new life, which begins with turning away from our past sins and having trusting faith in Jesus, who sends us the Holy Spirit which changes our hearts.

So, how then can we help our neighbour?

Here’s some very easy steps.
Step 1- Repent of your wrongdoings and have faith in Jesus. God will begin to change your heart and assist you.
Step 2- Know that serving your neighbour is God’s work, not yours. Do your best and He does the rest.
Step 3- Expect no reward. Do it for the benefit of others, not your own.
Step 4- Find a way to serve in your daily life. God has put you wherever you are to be the best server of people in whatever station of life you find yourself in.
Step 5- Serve boldly.

+ Ps. T. Harris

Prayer:
“Bestow on me, Lord, a genial spirit and unwearied forbearance; a mild, loving, and patient heart; kindly looking, pleasant, and friendly speech and manners in daily life; that I may give offense to no one, but as much as in me lies, to live in charity with all people. AMEN.” Johann Arndt (1555-1621)