What “loving your neighbor” is not

 


I get a daily Google Alert by email with links to stories, articles, and videos that use the phrase "Love Your Neighbor." Skimming those links shows hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of what that phrase is not.

First, "love your neighbor" is not a political weapon.

A popular weaponization of the phrase is to claim a particular politician is not true to their values because they are not approving of a policy that others have determined represents the action of "loving your neighbor." You can lump many of today's hot-button political topics in this category. But loving your neighbor is not a phrase about political policy. 

Second, "love your neighbor" is not a yardstick you use to determine how others measure up.

Very clearly, the statement is personal and demands an answer to this question: how do YOU love your neighbors? I see in other articles the author's finger-pointing at others. But, loving your neighbor is not a phrase meant to tear down other people. 

Third, "loving your neighbor" is not a passive idea. 

Loving your neighbor requires more than lip service. Anyone can say they love their neighbors behind closed doors. Most anyone can even claim it as a motto. But loving your neighbor requires action. It requires you to be active in loving, not stationary. Loving your neighbor is not a passive phrase, it is active. 

Fourth, you are not the final judge of whether or not you love your neighbor.

I see many posted stories wanting exclusive rights to this phrase to promote an event or sell things. But the statement pre-dates each of us, and we do not get to define it. If we did, we would be nice to our friends and claim them all as neighbors. Instead, this phrase requires us to get uncomfortable with people that live around us, not just the ones we already like. But, loving your neighbor is not something you get to judge, but something others see based on your actions.  

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable." - C.S. Lewis, Four Loves

Remember what loving your neighbor is not, and then get busy thinking of others and being vulnerable in your efforts to love them! Loving requires action and today is a great day to start.

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Does this article make you interested in taking the Engaged Neighbor pledge? Five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge online at http://engagedneighbor.com.

Contact the blog author, David L. Burton at dburton541@yahoo.com.

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