Who is my neighbor according to the Bible? How to love them regardless of your neighborhood. Your neighbors are not only the people who live next to us. Our neighbor is whoever we encounter, and we commanded to do good and love them as yourself. Our neighbor is really anyone we come across, regardless of where they are from.
A Good Neighbor
When a lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbors are? Jesus responded with the parable, we call “The Samaritan”. It’s about a man who traveled on a long business trip. While traveling, he was robbed of his money, stripped of his clothing and left for dead. By chance, a priest was passing by when he saw the injured man in underwear. He walked on the other side, avoiding even eye contact. Another man came by and he too passed by on the other side, without doing anything.
A man from Samaria came upon the place where the man was and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. He went to him, poured oil and wine, and bandaged his wounds. The Samaritan man used his wagon to carry the wounded man to an inn and paid the innkeeper to help the injured man. He told the keeper if there is more charge, he would pay him on his way back. Jesus said, “Now which of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” The lawyer replied, “the one who showed mercy on him”. Luke 10:30-37. Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise”.
Bible Principles of a Good Neighbor
Thousands of years ago, God told Israel how to treat their fellow Israelites. God said to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. In Leviticus 19:9-18 the LORD gave the Israelites His principles on being a good neighbor which I summarized in the graphic below.
When you love God, you obey Him and you help strangers. Some might make excuses for not helping someone in need. The good samaritan lived in more dangerous times than we do now, yet he put aside his own wants and fears for a stranger’s need. That’s the attitude we must have.
The good samaritan had compassion, he loved not in word but in deed 1 John 3:18. Compassion and mercy is not what we see in insincere world today. Biblical compassion motivates people to go out of their way to help those in need. When mankind was without hope and without a way out. God sent His only begotten Son to provide the way through His crucifixion. God didn’t have to send Jesus and He still will be God and we’d still be dead in sin. That, my friends, is the love and compassion in action. While we can’t top that, I encourage all to be strong and courageous to stop thinking only of yourself, stop sinning, and live for Christ. He does promise believers that we will either lose or be rewarded according to our works.
We work for Rewards
Jesus wants all of us to be like him in attitude and action in our relations to all men. Many will say they love their family or friends. But what about the stranger in need? Do you look the other way or go around or ignore the needs of a stranger?