-In a conversation with Jesus a Pharisee tried to justify himself by asking Jesus, "who is my neighbor?"(Luke10:25-29). This is a question often asked in our heart if not asked from our mouth. The question tries to limit who the love of God, as expressed through us, should be given to. It is easy to make a list of people that we may not want to show the love of God to for various reasons. That coworker who is constantly trying to undermine us, the next door neighbor who seems impossible to tolerate or someone who has hurt you or someone you care about who has betrayed you. All of these people mentioned, and many more should be treated for their best and not from our own willful response.
-It is not enough to smile and be sweet in the face of a challenging personality or situation. Some times what is best for someone is a strong rebuke, or even stiff punishments if that will do the most good for the person. How do we determine our behavior in these situations? Only the spirit of God guiding us as we live according to the Scriptures gives us hope. We are not capable of figuring out what to do by our intellect nor are we able to feel what to do with our emotions. As soon as we follow our own will in such circumstances we fail. As we have said in previous messages the three pronged attack born in Eden and first suffered by Adam and Eve contains every possible sin including failing to show love to our neighbor. If we like Adam and Eve are tricked into living according to our own will, even when we mean to show love, we will not show real love and we will have fallen for the enemies attack.
-The love that is required to be a Christian extends to all people as well as God. In John4:20 we are told that a man can't love an unseen God if he does not love his neighbor who he sees every day.
If we claim to love God we must love our fellow citizen of this world.
Poet Ntwadumela's Voice
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