"The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’" Luke 7:34 ESV
As much as I love animals and hated to yell, "Go home!" at the joyful puppy who bounded happily out of his yard to follow me yesterday morning, I knew I had to for his own sake." You see, I only had about a mile left on my run before the gravel road would meet the highway where I knew the dog would most likely get hit if he continued to follow. But as the overgrown puppy failed to listen to my instruction and joyfully ran by my side, my mind scrambled to find a way to keep the dog safe. That's when I had the divinely inspired idea to call my neighbor Joey. "Can you please help me? I'll be late for work if I have to take this dog home," I said before explaining how I had come to acquire the company of this cute canine. Laughing, he immediately came out of his home, lovingly scooped up the dog and went in to call the dog's owner. Thank God for good neighbors right?
And you know, while being a good neighbor certainly entails that you and I look out for those people who live near to us, being the good neighbor Christ calls us to be means so much more my friend. You see, those people who live near to us or we associate with most often are usually people just like us, people that are saved. But guess what? We have neighbors outside our "comfort zones" too - people who are totally different from us, people who are immoral, dirty, drug-addicted, and unsaved that need a "good neighbor" to share the Good News of the gospel with them.
So may you and I be willing to do whatever it takes to be the good neighbors Jesus has called us to be to those close to us and to those people most of us go to great lengths to avoid. And may you and I love others so much that we would feel an urgency to step outside of our holy huddles, to embrace being called friends of "tax collectors and sinners" so that the lost might be saved.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder that a good neighbor, as defined by You and not the world, is a person who steps outside the boundaries of their neighborhoods to be Your hands and feet and to love the lost and help those in need. Help us to be those good neighbors Lord. It's in Your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!!!
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