Define "Neighbor"

There is a deep-seated craving for meaning, to make an impact on the world around me. I’m not here just to consume, or to exist, or live out my days minding my own business.

God, use me!

So I approach Jesus, just like one of his followers. “Lord, I love you with all my God with all my heart, soul, and strength. But what more can I do?”

So he presses me, “Love your neighbor, as yourself.”

Bible study is easy. Going to church is exciting. I could even put a little fish on my car. I can smile at strangers, be a good worker and a nice guy to my family. But he presses me, again. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Right away, I’m looking for an out. “Define neighbor?”

Certainly he doesn’t mean that grumpy man across the street who threw dog waste on my car? It’s not the guy with the Obama/Biden sign barrage on his year? It’s not the people next door who turn their yard into a October freak fest, complete with coffins, motion activated screams and a blow up Frankenstein on their roof – that all goes up the weekend after labor day. It’s not the two women who drive the Subaru with the CoExiST bumper sticker, is it?

My neighbor isn’t the guy in the next cubicle who never talks, or the one who complains about everything, or the one who has bad breath? It isn’t the woman at church who never has money but always has problems. It certainly can’t be friend who can’t hold down a job because everyone is always “out for him.”

Really, I would be much easier if I could just pick my neighbor.

So I walk the road, and ahead of me I see him. . I see the political machine walk past him, but still making sure he votes. And a social worker walks past him, ensuring his benefits are in order.I see his coworker walk past him, hoping he quits so he can have his desk. I even see people from church walk past him, and they toss him a little money, but secretly praying he doesn’t show up at the 11:00 service.

For me, making a difference and having significant impact would be much easier with a book deal, or standing in front of a crowd, or being interviewed on TBN. Making a difference would be amazing if I had a lot of money to give to my favorite ministries.

But the calling isn’t to any of that. It’s to this one man. And my Samaritan heart – hurt by the world and all of its injustice – now faces a choice.