“‘Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind,’ and ‘thy neighbor as thyself.” Luke 10:27

I pray that you had a glorious day of worship with your local church on the Lord’s Day. God is worthy of our praise and all that is within our beings. Showing and sharing God’s love in today’s climate of socially distanced communities comes with many challenges and difficulties. Even before the times of social distancing, mandated precautions, and protective measures, we would be hard-pressed to know the family next door or across the way. The days of calling out to a neighbor or coming to a neighbor for help have long passed. Names on the mailboxes have faded and given way to numbers and the same might be said for neighborly love. The scripture passage illustrates to us the manner of Christian love declared in the bible and demonstrated by Jesus. The child of God is to be known by their love for God and for others. It is a love that extends beyond comfort zones and outside circles of friends. It is the kind of love that Christ demonstrated by leaving His glory in heaven to declare the Father’s love to a lost and dying world to deliver a holy, eternal, acceptable sacrifice to redeem man from sin. Jesus became a neighbor to the His enemies. He came to those who rebelled against Him and rejected Him, who would not recognize Him as the Son of God. The example of Jesus makes it clear “who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10:29). A neighbor is the one who sees the need, feels the need, touches the need and who meets the need. The neighbor is “He that shewed mercy” (Lk 10:37). The Samaritan encountered the man in need along his journey and did the neighborly thing for him. He had compassion and was moved to action. My friend, when we open our hearts to see, feel and touch those in need, we become neighbors of God’s compassion and mercy to the world. Father, help me to hear Christ say, “go and do thou likewise” and be a neighbor those in need. Father, thank You for the love, mercy, and compassion that You showed through Your Son Jesus Christ. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Father, “open the eyes of my heart, I want to see You” and move me to extend my hands that others may know Your mercy and come to know Your love. In the blessed Name of Jesus. Amen.