Romans 13:10“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” –

Reflecting God’s Love Through Neighborly Actions: Loving our neighbor well is ultimately a way we reflect the merciful and grace-filled love we have received from God. Loving our neighbor is also a tangible way that we express our love for God as we care for others made in His image.

In Luke 10, Jesus shared the parable of the Good Samaritan to clearly demonstrate that our “neighbor” isn’t the person closest to us in location, ethnicity, gender, religion or background. We are supposed to consider all people our “neighbors.”

Limiting who qualifies as a “neighbor” makes us feel that we’re justified when we pass by people we’d rather not deal with — even if they would benefit from our care and compassion. Engaging with people who are different from us makes us uncomfortable; loving people who are different from us can be risky. And loving people as we love ourself is harder still.

We can often see a need in someone else and choose to pass by. Sometimes our reasons are legitimate: We literally might not have time to stop. We might not have the means to help. We might have to admit that physical safety is an issue that precludes our assistance. Other times, our reasons aren’t as concrete or easy to excuse. Sometimes we avoid loving our neighbor because that person grates on our nerves, they’re not easy to love, or we just don’t want to get involved in their situation or dysfunction.

We can’t be all things to all people at all times; Jesus doesn’t require that of us. But we can be the heart of Jesus in our relationships with our neighbors and ask Him how we can respond as He would.In those moments, we can ask God: “What does it look like for me to love my neighbor?”

Love God and love people. The second command — to love our neighbor as ourselves — is the natural overflow of being loved by God.