Thursday, July 25, 2019
Good morning, Jesus.
When a teacher asked You, Jesus, what’s the most important commandment, without hesitation You replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39).
Without question, our desire should be to love You with all our being, but what about this “love your neighbor” stuff? This is a challenge for most of us, living in this broken world. And who is my “neighbor?” It’s easy to love those like us, but what about those we find unlovely, or weird, or obnoxious? We need Your help to do this commandment that most of us find difficult and sometimes frightening. Because You trust us with Your Spirit, who goes everywhere we go, open our eyes to see those we rub shoulders with—our coworkers, the folks in line at Walmart, the attendant at the dry cleaners—are our neighbors. We only see them as folks who cross our paths, but You see them as potential Christ-followers, your prospective children, ones who Jesus died for, like He died for my sins. For most, we’re the only “Bible” these people will read. Give us the right attitude to be the sincere loving Christ-image they need to see, not a judgmental, aloof believer who isn’t approachable. Keep us from being an “ugly Christian” that skeptics like to mock. Like You used others to influence us to seek You, may we do the same as we “Love our neighbor.”
Loving my neighbor, in Jesus’ name, amen.
THANKFUL 
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