Jesus had just answered an inquiry about having eternal life by giving the questioner the Great Commandment of loving God totally and your neighbor as yourself. “But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (Luke 10:29). It seems that we want to wiggle out of this command by disqualifying someone from being our neighbor. It does not work that way. The idea of neighbor is much wider than we think. Next door. Down the street. Across town. Down and out. Injured. Forgotten. Forsaken. Alone. Black. Hispanic. Buddhist. Hindu. Muslim. Political opponent. Gay. Prostitute. Pimp. Boss. Competitor. Coworker. Shall we go on? We are to find a way to express God’s kind of love to everyone without finding a way to justify ourselves.
You are reading from the book, “Captives of Love”, by H. Lamar Smith
