"Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."
-John 13:34-35
This passage introduces what is known as the 11 Commandment. Jesus gives us the simple task of loving one another... no, I take that back, it's the difficult task of loving one another. Why is so hard? Ask yourself.
Why don't I get along with everybody around me?
Why do I see people as people and not potential children of God?
Have I missed opportunities to witness to someone because I didn't like them?
The reason why is it so hard to get along with or even love our neighbors is because we humans have the natural ability to blow up the smallest situations into World War III. Take this for example:
You lend your neighbor a hammer so he can help his wife hang shelves and pictures as they remodel their living room. He keeps the hammer for a week or so and you wonder where it is. You ask him what happened and he claims it is lost and he is looking for it. Really, he accidentally threw it away with the packaging for his new shelves and it is now sitting in a smelly junk yard outside of town. You scream and yell and before you know it you're filing for a ridiculous lawsuit of $30 to replace the hammer.
I am not saying that you should go over and kiss your neighbor and I am surely not promoting creepers, but I am saying that it wouldn't hurt to give your neighbor a complement or get to know them beyond their imperfections. Trust me it isn't easy, I have been in situations where I was hurt or disgusted by a person and I lost the opportunity to witness to them. Don't miss the chance to change someone's life.
Who knows? You might get the next Billy Graham saved!
Someday soon I will post the third part to this series "Letting Go"
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