Confessions of a Lousy Neighbor

Quite honestly, I’m a lousy neighbor. We come and go out of our garage. Usually, we’re in a hurry when we leave and tired when we return. Between Chris, Mark, my mother-in-law and me, we have four cars coming and going. Rolling the trash out sometimes feels like a huge effort, let alone being relationally available and engaging. When I’m home, I want to be home. Invisible. In. My. Jammies.For a while, I’ve had this grand idea that we would host a cookout in our cove. We would invite the neighbors over and move beyond the “how’s the weather” conversation we periodically exchange at the mailbox. Unfortunately, that plan is on the second tier of my to-do list… that never sees the light of day. (Please tell me I’m not alone in this confession.)The other day, I was re-convicted about this gap between conviction and action. (Even as I type up my new word, re-convicted, I realize God is patient… but how pitiful have I have been! My delayed obedience is disobedience.) We’re praying for God to change this city and I haven’t even taken the first step. I couldn’t help but think of the attorney in Luke 10. Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan because a lawyer asked Jesus how he could have eternal life. Jesus’ first response pointed to this:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

If you’re familiar with Luke 10, you’ll remember that the attorney then asked Jesus to define exactly who fit the qualification of neighbor. If he was like me, he may have wanted Jesus to provide a literal list of who he had to love “as yourself.” The whole point of the parable that followed was that the one who showed mercy to the man who was robbed was the one who was a neighbor. The priest and the Levite passed by the injured robber. The religious people were the least loving. The Samaritan, the one who was viewed as the outcast, actually loved in the same way God would want us to love.Let’s fast forward to our current culture. A recent conversation with a Christian woman who was raised under the tenants of Islam commented that not once did anyone share the love of Christ with her family. How convicting! I realize this doesn’t apply to every woman reading these words. There are some of you who open your homes and build deep friendships with those on your street. Some of us, however, need to stop waiting on a short-term mission trip to make a difference in this world. We must start to acknowledge that God has us in our neighborhood for a reason. Can we at least start by loving our literal neighbors?[bctt tweet="Some of us need to stop waiting on a short-term mission trip to make a difference in this world."]While I’m here, let me also clarify our purpose. The aim is not just to get to know our neighbors enough to feel comfortable to hand them an “Invest and Invite” card and then move on. Our aim is to actually get to know them enough to love them and care about them. It’s not a religious checklist of sharing the Roman Road or the plan of salvation. Our goal is to love.So, I’m putting myself out there. I challenge you to do the same. What’s one thing you can do to move toward your neighbors? Don’t make it so big that you’ll put it off. Just. Do. Something.Have a great idea that you want to pass along? I’d love to hear.[bctt tweet="What’s one thing you can do to move toward your neighbors?"]