READ: James 1 (Focus vs. 19-27)
MEMORY VERSE
“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.” James 2:8
BACKGROUND
After a late summer thunderstorm ripped through our city, we had to deal with tree damage to our house, plus a major cleanup of our leaf-and-branch-strewn yard.
As I spent the following day dealing with the damage and the tree debris, I tried to humor myself by repeating, “We don’t have any trees!” It’s true. Other than three tiny, three-foot-tall pines, we don’t have them. Yet I spend considerable time cleaning up after storms or falling leaves due to neighbors’ trees.
Neighbors. How do we interact with them—even when something they’ve done or grown or said bothers us?
Scripture is clear on this: it states “love your neighbor as yourself” nine times—including Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19, Mark 12:31, Galatians 5:14, and James 2:8. In fact, this is the second greatest commandment God has given us.
The first is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . soul . . . strength and . . . mind” (Luke 10:27). One of the keys to showing love to neighbors is how we interact with them. James explained this by saying, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (1:19).
This isn’t always easy. It goes against our nature. Yet loving our neighbor is to be our first response. As God helps us, let’s shine Jesus’ light of love on those who share life with us—our neighbors.
Dave Branon
INSIGHT
James says to “love your neighbor as yourself” (2:8), and we do that in part by our actions (1:19-20).
Luke 10 also contains a reference to this commandment, but it goes one step further by answering the question “Who is my neighbor?” (v. 29) and illustrating what that entails.
In an interaction with “an expert in the law” (v. 25), Jesus answers the man’s query by telling the parable of the good Samaritan (vv. 30-37). This parable reveals that God wants us to love our neighbor regardless of nationality, political party, or other distinction.
Our neighbor also includes anyone who’s in distress. Just as Jesus had compassion on us, we’re to have compassion on others. When we love our neighbor, we “are doing right” (James 2:8).
As Paul stated, “[Love] does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered . . . . Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:5-6).
Alyson Kieda
APPLICATION
What’s bothering you about a neighbor? How can you handle this issue in love?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s Post)
“One of the keys to showing love to neighbors is how we interact with them.” Today’s Insight
PR’s TAKE
“God wants us to love our neighbor regardless of nationality, political party, or other distinction.” Today’s Insight
“…How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live.” Mother Theresa
PRAYER
“Dear Father, thank You for my neighbors—whether next door or the people I interact with daily. Please help me to love them with Christlike love.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR”
“Who is my neighbor?” a lawyer asked Jesus, to test him.
So Jesus told him a story to answer his question:
Lonely the way…
Lonely the traveler one day…
Robbers attacked him and left him.
First down the road came a priest who just chose to ignore him.
Next came a Levite who wouldn’t do anything for him.
Then one despised,
Hated in everyone’s eyes,
Knelt down to heal and restore him.
Tending the wounds of the man, the Samaritan labored.
He was the one with compassion, the one in God’s favor.
Not by a creed
But by responding to need,
He proved to be the good neighbor.
